Firered and Leafgreen
by Moonspots
Summary: Join Red and Leaf as they journey through the Kanto region and work to become the pokemon master. But Red knows a deadly secret, Leaf is head over heels in love, and with Team Rocket lurking behind ever corner, this may prove harder than they think. BurningLeaf shipping Accepting OC's!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, Moonspots here! So I'm really excited about this Fanfiction. It's pretty much about Leaf and Red journeying through the Kanto region. It will be based of the game with a few changes and in an anime setting. The idea of writing their story has been bugging me for a while now, so I decided to write it! I really hope you guys like it!**

**Chapter 1**

A 13 year old girl sat up on her knees, her long brown hair thwapping against her back while she chucked clothes over her shoulders at a very rapid pace. A large pile of clothes began to form next to a green, tattered backpack with a pokeball insignia sewn onto it. Various worthless looking items overflowed and spilled out over its sides. A book, a blanket, a small box, a hat, even some silverware. Only after the pile of clothes reached the height of the backpack did the girl stop throwing clothes.

She took a deep breath, her elbows propped on her knees and her hands cupping her chin. An uncontrollable grin spread from ear to ear. Her light brown eyes gleamed with excitementand alertness, even though the moon's glow seeped through her windows and illuminated the sky. She abruptly rose to her feet and snatched a white hat off her dresser. She stuck it on her head, the brim creating a ring around her head. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and her grin turned into a goofy one.

"Watch out world. I am Leaf, from Pallet town! Tomorrow I am going to start my pokemon journey, and eventually become a pokemon master!" Leaf raised her fist in the air and yelled the last part.

"Leaf!" A voice yelled from outside her door.

She cringed and watched as her door was flung open to reveal a very angry looking woman. She had sharp features and narrowed brown eyes. Her black hair was peppered with white and tossed up in a messy bun. Despite the fact she had just slammed open the door, she stood in the doorway with her arms crossed and her foot tapping the ground.

"Sorry Mom," Leaf apologized, suddenly realizing just how ridiculous she must look right now.

Her usually sleek brown hair was frizzy from a long day without a single glimpse of a brush. She was wearing her pajamas, which consisted of a white tank top featuring the three kanto starters and a pair of blue comfy shorts. Even though she was in her pajamas, she was wearing tennis shoes from earlier when she had gotten something from the car.

"Do you realize what time it is?" Her mother demanded.

"Um, night time?" She gulped.

"11:30. 11:30 Leaf! Tomorrow is a big day and you need your sleep! Now hurry up and pack your bag and get to bed already," She scolded her child.

She nodded, proceeding to shove clothes in her already full bag. Her mother sighed and walked over to Leaf.

"Honey, you've got way too many things. And this backpack looks like it had seen some pretty rough days." Her voice had dramatically softened.

"It's the only one I got," Leaf explained.

"I bought one for you, just in case." Leaf's mom smiled at her good-naturedly.

"Really?" Leaf's eyes, once again, filled with excitement.

"Yup, I'll go get it right now."

While her mom was retrieving the bag, Leaf began to sort through her stuff, this time with a more realistic mind. She threw the junk into one pile, and the useful items into another pile. The size of the junk almost doubled her other pile. Leaf's mom returned with a light yellow satchel resting in her hands. Leaf scrambled over to her mom and ecstatically, yet carefully, picked up the satchel. She flipped it over in her hands, feeling the soft exterior and admiring it.

"Thanks Mom. This is really nice," Leaf smiled as her mom pulled her in for a hug.

"Now why don't we pack?"

The two spent about a half hour packing Leaf's bag. The number of times Leaf had to throw one of her items into the junk pile was astounding. Leaf glanced at the small digital clock shaped like a voltorb.

"Wow, it's midnight already. I should probably go to bed."leaf declared.

"Agreed," Her mother pulled off her hat, kissed her lightly on the forehead, and set the hat back down in its rightful spot. Leaf watched the door click shut before she sat down at the edge of her bed. Her room was a complete pig-sty from just today. Dirty clothes littered the floor and pair-less shoes lay forlornly in the corners. Her walls were covered in posters of pokemon battles and pictures depicting her life.

One in particular caught Leafs attention. The picture was taken in front of a creek on a sunny day. A little girl had her arms around the shoulders of two boys about the same age. The girl had long brown hair and an oversized smile. The boy to her left had light brown, almost blonde hair. A mustache and large glasses had been drawn onto his face with a sharpie. The boy on her right was taller and had a more serious look on his face. His brown hair was slightly unkempt and he looked a little bit caught off guard.

Leaf's heart fluttered as she looked at picture, memories taking her to the past. She sat there for a while, reminiscing, before walking over and pulling the picture off the wall. Blue and Red. Her two best friends. Well, one of them not so much anymore. Her eyes fixed on Blue, the kid with scribbles on his face. A couple of years ago, Blue had suddenly grew distant and began to bully her and Red. Now they were more enemies than anything else.

Red was a different story though... He has always been there for her, through thick and thin. He knew all the right things to say, though he didn't say much, and how to make Leaf laugh. And somewhere along the way, he had stolen her heart. Leaf couldn't deny it. She had a major crush. And it bothered her more than anything else. Tom-boy Leaf, who loved to get dirty and act immature, was head over heels in love with her only friend.

She stashed the picture in her bag and set the bag against the beds leg. She flopped onto the bed, pulling the covers over herself. The anticipation for tomorrow was bubbling inside her. She pushed all thoughts of Red out of her mind and instead focused on which pokemon she wanted.

Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur. All three of them were incredibly cute and surprisingly strong. The thoughts swirled around in mind as she reached up and pulled the lamp cord. The light flickered off, leaving her in almost complete darkness. Fire, grass, or water. Which was best. Leaf slowly drifted off, finding her dreams to be haunted by the pesky question of which one.

* * *

It didn't matter how much he wanted too, or how much he tried, he couldn't fall asleep. He had resorted to pacing around his room and occasionally running his hands through his messy brown hair. A dull throb began to form in the back of his head just from all the worrying he'd been doing. Unlike Leaf and Blue, who he was sure were too excited to sleep, he couldn't sleep because of dread. Sure, he was overjoyed that he would be getting his first pokemon tomorrow. Professor Oak had specifically asked the three to travel around and learn about pokemon in exchange for a starter pokemon. Leaf would be so excited tomorrow morning, well until he had to break the bad news,

"Dang it Red! You need to be strong about this," he scolded himself.

He sat down on the edge of his bed and placed his forehead in the palm of his hands. Why him? Red didn't understand how he, of all people, could have been entrusted with such a valuable secret and impossible task. He recalled the night when his life took a downward slide, three nights ago. If only he would have listened to Leaf and not gone out into the forest… That's where he found the dying man and his burden. Red was warned about the dangers that would come with man made him swear never to tell anyone, that he was foolish to even trust Red, but he had too. Not that Red choose to know either. He was a victim of circumstance and now he was going to have to live with the consequences. All he knew is that his life and anyone he held close to him could be in danger.

People would come after him once they figured out he knew, and they would figure it out. That's why he had to talk to Leaf. That's why he couldn't travel around the region together like they had planned their whole life. He just had no idea how he was going to break it to her.

* * *

Leaf was up before the sun, and she wasn't trying to keep it a secret either. Her feet pounded against the stairs as she went up, down, up, down. A door slammed. Something crashed to the ground. Her mom was trying to be patient with her, but this was too much for her to handle.

"Leaf Green, you better keep it down or else you won't be making any trips to the professor's lab!" Her mother yelled.

Leaf stopped mid-step and flinched as she listened to her mother chew her out. Whoops. Maybe she was making more noise than she thought. Oh well. She finished her descent downstairs, this time much quieter, and slide over to the food cabinets. She stared at the rows of food and wondered which would be fit to start the most important day of her life. Oatmeal? Definitely not. Cheerios? She had those pretty much every day. Leaf swung open the fridge door, letting a breathe of cold air slap her in the face. How about eggs? She checked the fridge for eggs, but they were out. She rummaged through until finally she found something worthy. Bacon.

The hissing and popping were like music to her ears as the bacon cooked. She glanced at her watch. 6:15. She would meet Red at his house and they would walk to the lab at 6:30. They were supposed to receive their pokemon at 7:00, but being there early couldn't hurt. Leaf turned off the stove and picked the bacon from the frying pan. After devouring her breakfast, she brushed her teeth and walked into her room. She looked around, trying to take everything in at once. She might have been sad, but excitement was over powering every other emotional at the moment.

She spotted her self in the mirror and stood up a bit straighter. Her frizzy hair from yesterday had meet a brush and now it lay straight on her back. Two smaller pieces of her chocolate brown hair that were barely shoulder length framed the side of her face. Her white hat from last night cast a shadow over her eyes and she smiled at the way it made her seem mysterious. She wore a simple blue tank top with a black collar and a red pleated mini skirt. Her yellow bag hung off her shoulder and it complemented her outfit. Two blue socks were pulled up to the top of her shins and her feet were stuffed inside red and white tennis shoes.

"Mom?" Leaf stuck her head into the bears den, a potentially deadly move on any other morning at this time of day.

Her mom's eyes were half open as she rolled over to face Leaf.

"Yeah?" She yawned, stretching her arms.

"I wanted to say goodbye," Leaf walked over as her mom sat up in the bed

They hugged and Leaf pulled away.

"I know you'll be great. Don't forget to stop by and visit. Call me too,"

"I will, I promise," Leaf walked out the door, her satchel on her shoulder.

Down the stairs, out the door, and Leaf was finally outside. She breathed in the fresh air and couldn't help but do a little twirl. The sun was waking up, the sky was blue, and the pidgey were chirping. She smiled to herself. Maybe I'll catch a pidgey today, she thought. Leaf couldn't help but run over to Red's house. She knocked very loudly on the door and waited. A brown haired, wide-eyed boy opened the door and took one look at Leaf. He had on a red short sleeve zip-up jacket with black sleeves. Red tennis shoes hid under his boot cut blue jeans. To top his outfit off, he wore a red baseball cap with white marking a half circle just above the rim.

"Are you ready?" She asked, bouncing on her heels.

Red looked Leaf over, his eyes resting on her new yellow bag. After holding up one finger, he disappeared and reappeared within 30 seconds with a yellow backpack slung around his shoulders. He shut the door quietly behind him and walked along side Leaf as she began to ramble about something pointless. She was always talking. His mind wandered to three nights ago, when his life changed dramatically. If only he hadn't snuck out, if only he had listened to his friend.

"Earth to Red!" Leaf was waving her hand in front of his face now.

He glanced over at her

"Where you even listening to me?" She asked unhappily.

"Uh..."

"Okay whatever. As I was saying, did you hear about that guy they found in the woods?" Her voice pulsated with excitement.

Every muscle in Red's body tensed. He had heard alright. It was the whole reason he couldn't travel around with her. He relaxed his muscles and nodded

"They Id'd the body, and it was Mr. A. He was the new guy in town, that was like a biologist or something. So, apparently he had already been dead for 2 days when they found him. That means he died three nights ago. Red, we were going to go out in the forest that night, remember?" She became more serious.

"It rained,"

If only he hadn't gone out that night , but he couldn't tell Leaf that he had. Because it would put her at risk too. It had, in fact, rained that night, and he remembered it very clearly. He pushed aside the memory stirring in his head and focused instead on the fact they were going to be getting their very own pokemon soon.

"So I was watching the news, and it said the police suspected foul play. The marks on his body were from a tyranitar," she exaggerated the last word.

He shot her a look that said 'so what?'

"They are rare pokemon found in the Johto region! It's highly unlikely one could ever make its way down in this area," she clarified, looking smug she remembered something from trainers school.

"Wow!" Red applauded her, pretending to be impressed by her knowledge.

"Hey!" Leaf playfully punched his shoulder.

"Leaf, there is something I wanted to tell you," Rec began but, was cut off.

Standing in front of the lab doors was a spiky haired boy. He wore a confident smirk as he leaned casually against the side of the door frame. Leaf groaned as she spotted her least favorite person. He wore a blue shirt and blue jeans with a pendant hanging from a worn string around his neck.

"Look who finally showed up, Red and his puppy dog," He sneered at Leaf.

"Good one Blue. I feel very insulted," Leaf rolled her eyes at him.

"What took you so long, I thought I'd have to take the pokemon myself,"

"We are like 20 mins, early," Red pointed out.

"Not early enough by the looks of it. You two hurry up," with that he turned and walked into the lab, the door slamming behind him.

Red grabbed Leaf's shoulder before she could follow him. It was now or never. He took a deep breathe and met Leaf's curious stare.

"Leaf, I can't journey with you," his heart hammered in his chest.

"What?" Her eyes filled with hurt and confusion.

"Why not?" She demanded.

"I just can't..."He looked down, suddenly feeling very ashamed.

"We've been planning this since we were little. This has been my dream, traveling around the kanto region with my best friend," Leaf look crushed.

Just as Red was about to say something else, the door swung open and revealed Blue.

"Hurry up will ya," he growled and turned back inside.

"We better go in," Red mumbled.

Leaf didn't say anything back. She cut him off as he was about to take a step inside and hurried over to stand next to Blue. Red watched her, an ache forming in his chest. He felt like a real jerk at the moment, but that feeling was soon replaced with an uncontainable excitement. Sitting on a table near Leaf were three pokeballs. Standing near the table was Professor Oak, Blue's grandpa. Oak had tan colored hair that was spiked at once side and a heavy set of eyebrows. He wore a good-naturedly smile as he watched Red enter the room. Like most professors, he had on a white lab coat over a pair of khakis and a red t-shirt.

"I'm glad to see you all here today. As you already know, my name is Professor Oak. I've spent my life researching pokemon and in return for a rare pokemon, you will take a pokedex and collect data on pokemon," He held up a red device as he talked.

"On the table are the three starter pokemon, Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur. Each of you will get to choose one to help start off your pokemon journey. Leaf, you can choose first," Oak smiled at her.

Leaf was surprised that she was getting to choose first. She had assumed since Blue was Oak's grandson, he would get the first pick. Blue must have thought so too, because the moment the words left the professor's mouth, Blue obliged. Professor Oak shushed him and gave Leaf an encouraging smile. Excitement bubbled in side of her and it was taking all of her self-control to jump up and down. She walked slowly over to the table, running the options through her mind. Deep down though, she knew which pokemon she wanted, even though she had thought about each pokemon for the longest time. Leaf reached down and picked up the pokeball farthest to the right.

"Charmander. A wise choice. It has a spirited personality and is well suited for a patient and strong trainer." Oak commentated.

Leaf nodded, but she wasn't really listening. She was instead staring at her pokeball in awe. She flipped it over in her hands imagining her Charmander inside. Maybe he was sleeping, or he could be listening to them right now.

"Would you like to give your pokemon a nickname?" Professor Oak asked Leaf.

She glanced up, "Uh, a nickname? No thank you."

"Would you like to go next?" He asked, looking at Red.

Blue's mouth fell open as he watched Red walk over to the table and look over the remaining pokeballs. Leaf couldn't help but smirk. She was starting to really like Professor Oak. After a moment's thought, Red grabbed the one closest to her. A bulbasaur. After brief speech from Oak about Bulbasaur, he asked Red about a nickname. He politely turned him down.

"Now you can go Blue," Oak turned to his grandson.

Blue snatched the remaining pokeball off the counter fuming. Oak couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"I was going to pick Squirtle anyways. He's the best," Gary grumbled, but he couldn't stay mad for long.

"Now. Here is a pokedex for each of you. You use a pokedex to obtain information about pokemon. Simply point it at a pokemon and it will tell you information. In order to collect more information, you need to catch the pokemon. Also five pokeballs to start off your journey. You can purchase more pokeballs at your local pokemart. The pokemon center is always open for you to heal your pokemon and spend the night. The closest town is viridian city which is north of here. I wish you all best of luck. Call anytime you want and feel free to stop by," Oak handed them the supplies and watched as they walked out the door.

Almost in unison, they released their pokemon from their pokeballs. A charmander, squirtle, and bulbasaur stared at the trainer in front of them. Leaf kneeled down next to her pokemon holding out her hand. Charmander was bright orange and looked like a lizard standing on his hind legs. He had bright blue eyes and a tan under belly. A flame flickered strongly on the tip of his tail. Charmander let his new trainer pet him, feeling a bond already forming between them. Leaf pointed her pokedex at him and quickly gathered information before she pointed it at the other two pokemon.

Red smiled at his new pokemon. Bulbasaur stood on all four legs and slightly resembled a dinosaur. He had light greenish-blue skin with small darker green markings over his face and body. Two ears twitched on the top of it's face. A dark green bulb sat on it's back, making up much of the pokemon.

Blue picked up his squirtle, examining it as he smiled. Squirtle looked like a normal turtle, only blue and much cuter. It's shell looked powerful and sturdy on it's back. It declared it's name a couple of times as Blue held it.

"Red," Leaf turned to her friend, having not forgot their conversation from earlier.

"Hmmm?" He asked, not really paying much attention to her.

"How about we make a deal,"

Now he looked up at her interested.

"If I beat you in a pokemon battle, you have to journey with me. If I lose, you don't have to," She declared.

She knew Red too well, and she knew he could never back down from a challenge. He cursed under his breathe. She was making it so hard to protect her. But he couldn't back down, he just couldn't. And besides, he'd been wanting to have a real battle for as long as he could remember.

"Deal," He sighed.

Blue laughed and looked over at Leaf.

"You actually think you can beat him? Don't you think there's a reason he doesn't want to journey with you? You're dead weight. You're holding him back and I would drop you too," He sneered.

Leaf ignored him, but the words hurt. She had been thinking the same thing, and now it seemed like her fears might be a reality. Did Red think that she wasn't good enough for him. Her grip on the empty pokeball tightened. She would show them. She wasn't weak. Charmander watched his trainer, recognizing the emotions on her face and a determination came over him.

"Let's go Charmander,"

"Char!"

Red and Leaf stood opposite from each other, both pokemon facing each other. Charmander's tail seemed to burn even brighter as it prepared for it's first battle. Blue sat back and watched, a smug look on his face.

"You can have the first move," Leaf said.

"Bulbasaur, use tackle!" Red wasted no time.

Before Charmander could react, Bulbasaur slammed into him, causing him to tumble backwards. Charmander recovered quickly though, and just looked even more prepared to fight.

"Charmander, counter with a scratch!" Leaf called.

Charmander's claws connected with Bulbasaur multiple times before he was able to get away. Bulbasaur seemed to have taken more damage than Charmander. Leaf smiled. It looked like she was winning this fight.

"Tackle one more time!" Red instructed.

"Use growl!" Leaf yelled.

Charmander used growl as Bulbasaur threw himself into Charmander. Tackle's effect was greatly lessened, but Leaf could still see that Charmander was wearing down. It was now or never. With Charmander still pinned beneath Bulbasaur, Leaf called out for her pokemon to use scratched one more time. Charmander's paw slammed into the side of Bulbasaur's head, causing him to falter. It was enough for Charmander to push Bulbasaur off of him and land one more blow. Bulbasaur wavered for a moment, and then fell to the ground.

Leaf couldn't believe she won! She jumped up in the air and then ran over to her pokemon to give it a big hug. She won her very first pokemon battle!

"Great job!" She congratulated her pokemon.

Leaf looked over at Red and to her surprise, he was smiling.

"Looks like you're stuck with me," She smiled at him.

He just shook his head, unable to think of anything to say at the moment. He picked up his fainted pokemon and returned it to his pokeball. He told Leaf he was going to have Professor Oak heal it and be right back. While she waited, Blue approached her.

"Looks like Red isn't as good as I thought he was. He got beat by you," Blue shook his head.

"I'll take you on too if you think you're so good," She growled at him.

"I would but… it's just an enormous waste of time. We both know who the winner would be and I have better things to be doing. I'll battle you another time. Then we'll see who's the real trainer around here. Smell ya later," With that he turned and walked away.

What a jerk and such a weird way to say goodbye, Leaf thought. She sat down next to her Charmander and scratched his head while Red healed his pokemon. She wasn't a drag. She had proven that much when she beat Red. She just hoped he thought the same. The door swung open and Leaf popped up.

"Ready?" She asked, returning Charmander to her pokeball.

Red gave her a sideways smirk as he shoved his hands into his jean pockets and walked towards Route 1.

**So there it is! I really hope you like it. There will be a lot of character development from Red, Leaf, and Blue, so if you don't like them at the moment, just bare with me. I've edited this a couple of times, but if I missed anything I would love to know. I also really appreciate any constructive criticism you have to offer me. As of right now, I'm accepting OC's. If you want to make one, please Pm me with the following. Name,age,appearance, personality, clothes, history, pokemon, move list for pokemon, if they are a trainer, breeder, ect. And how you would like them to appear in the story. Thanks everyone and please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who read my story. A special thanks to Red Alfa, and Reborn Dark Phoniex for their reviews. Without further ado, here is chapter 2!**

**Chapter 2**

Only 10 minutes into their pokemon journey and Leaf had spotted a pokemon. Red seemed to be more concerned with where they were going than what pokemon were lurking in the trees, but it was his loss. For some reason, Leaf decided to crouch down and tip-toe over to the pokemon. Seeing Leaf's weird movements, Red stopped, sighed, and followed her, not bothering to lower himself. It wouldn't make a difference anyways, it's not like the pokemon could run away.

"Red! Get down!" Leaf yell/whispered at him.

Red cocked an eyebrow at her, shaking his head like she was an idiot. She glared at him as she pulled her pokedex out of her back pocket and pointed it at the pokemon. It gave her a description of it in a robotic voice. She reached for an empty pokeball. She enlarged it, looking very determined. Red was just about to protest when she hurled the pokeball towards the unsuspecting caterpie. it shook once, twice, three times before a burst of red energy released the now angry pokemon.

Without hesitation, it string shoted Leaf right in the face. She spat and pulled the extremely sticky strings away from her face as the caterpie made its grand escape into the dark forest. After containing an outburst of laughter, Red helped Leaf remove the sticky strings. Her checks flushed red as his hand occasionally touched her face. She was relieved that the strings covered the blush from Red's eyes. When they finally got it all off, Red pulled her pokedex from her grip. He pressed a button and the pokedex began to talk.

"When catching a pokemon, trainer's typically weaken the wild pokemon with their own pokemon before catching it. This makes the probability of catching the pokemon much higher,"

This time the flush on her checks was open for Red to see as he handed her the pokedex.

"Whatever, let's just keep on going," She snatched the device from his hand and hurriedly put it away.

Red watched her walk past him before jogging to her side. This time, he kept his eye out for pokemon as well. Leaf's spirit had become a bit deflated since her last failure, but she was still bent on catching a pokemon today. Bulbasaur and Charmander had been released from their pokeballs to walk along side their trainers and talk. Red chatted with Leaf, well Leaf did most of the talking, about old memories and where they wanted to go after Viridian. A rustle in some bushes diverted Red's attention and he glanced towards the noise.

He held his finger to his lips in a signal to be quiet. His bulbasaur crept over next to him and he nodded at Bulbasaur. At the nod, Bulbasaur jumped into the bushes and was met by a surprised squawk. The bushes rattled as small flashes of blue-green and tan were visible through the leaves. Suddenly the two pokemon crashed out of the bushes and into the open area. The wild pokemon was now recognizable as a pidgey. The pidgey looked furious that someone would attack it, but it also was considerably weaker than Bulbasaur.

"Bulbasaur use tackle one more time," Red called.

His pokemon collided with the wild one, sending the pidgey tumbling backwards. Before it could recover a pokeball was sailing through the air right at it. The pokeball bounced off the pidgey as it was enveloped in a bright red light and sucked inside the ball. It wiggled three times before it confirmed the capture with a click. Leaf watched in awe as Red went to go collect his prize.

"And that, my friend, is how to catch a pokemon," He turned the ball over in his hands.

"That was amazing Red! I must have your autograph!" Leaf fake squealed as she pretended to look for paper in her bag.

Red released his newly caught pokemon to admire it. It chirped and looked at him with big eyes. Leaf sighed, remembering earlier when she had fantasized about catching a pidgey herself. Even though it was only a couple of hours ago, it had seemed like forever since this morning. She felt stupid, but she was already starting to miss her mom.

"Red?" Leaf asked once they were back on the road.

"Yeah?" He glanced over at her.

"Are you nervous?" Her voice seemed small.

"Kinda, more excited though," he shrugged.

Red suddenly regretted early when he acted like she was an idiot for not knowing how to catch. was her first day, and he didn't have to be a jerk about it. She was his only friend. He hated that some stupid secret was keeping them apart. The man had warned him not to tell anyone, but he figured he could trust Leaf. One day he would have tell her. He fumbled for the right words to apolijize with when Leaf interrupted his thoughts.

"It's fine. I forgive you for earlier, no hard feelings," she half-smiled at him.

Red opened his mouth to reply when he was cut off.

"HEY," somebody yelled really loudly at them.

Red and Leaf looked towards the sounds of the voice and saw a young kid, about their age, running towards them. They exchanged a confused glance and looked back at him. He walked right up to Leaf and jabbed his finger at her chest. His blue eyes were narrowed below his brown mop of hair.

"Hey, girl. I challenge you to a two-on-two battle," He was almost shouting even though they were standing right next to each other.

Leaf faltered for words, "I, uh, I only have one pokemon,"

"What? What a loser. You only have one pokemon? You must be the weakest trainer ever!" He was laughing at her, and she could see the spit flying out of his mouth.

"Back off," Red growled, his shoulders tensing.

"It's the first day of my journey," Leaf said defensively.

"Fine. I'll give you til sunset to battle me. If you don't then you're a chicken and a loser. I'll be waiting at the Viridian City Pokemon Center." And with that he was off running towards the city.

Leaf just stood there, so surprised she didn't know if she should be hurt of angry. All she knew is that she must kick this trainer's ass, and to do that she had to get another pokemon.

"I gotta chatch another Pokemon!" Leaf turned towards Red and told him.

He glanced at the sun sitting low in the sky and the long shadows cast by the trees. Red looked uncertainly at Leaf.

"Please? I really want to show this guy he can't be a skunk bag and get away with it," Leaf explained, looking longingly towards the towering tree.

"One hour, no more," Red sighed.

Leaf wasted no time and took off running into the forest. After a couple minutes, she slowed her pace and began to search. The trees casted shadows that provided cover for pokemon, making it more difficult to find one. Many times Leaf would spot one, but it would get away before she had a chance to catch it. A half hour passed before Leaf had any more luck.

"Look!" Leaf pointed towards a forlon looking tree.

At the base was a small purple rat. It's tail flickered as it sniffed the ground intently, totally oblivious to Leaf's presence. She took a moment to compose herself. This was not going to be like last time. No way she would embarrass her self like that in front of Red again.

"Go Charmander, use scratch!" She hurled her pokeball and out popped her fire lizard.

Before the rattata had time to react, Charmander's claws delivered a swift and strong blow. The wild pokemon whinced and pulled away, but it looked angry and ready to fight. It charged at Charmander with amazing speed and slammed into his gut. Charmander rolled backwards, before he returned to his fighting stance.

"Use growl, and than scratch," Leaf called out.

A ferocious roar left Charmander's mouth just as rattata came around to use quick attack again. Even though the attach hit Charmander, it was obvious that it's damage was greatly lessened. While the rattata barreled into him, Charmander took the opportunity to use scratch one more time. The rattata fell to the ground, and struggled to get back up. Leaf grabbed a pokeball, and wasting no time, threw it at the injured pokemon. The ball hit its mark. A red light engulfed Rattata, pulling it into the pokeball, as it began to shake. One, two, three. Click.

"I did it!" Leaf yelled, scaring away any near by pokemon.

She did a small dance, and ran over to retrieve her prize. Charmander smiled as she picked him up in her arms and twirled him around. Red watched them, smiling to himself.

"Now let's go beat that loser of a reject," Her determination was back.

They made it to Viridian city just before the sun began to set. Leaf and Red marveled at the abundance of buildings all around them. They had visited Viridian City a couple of times, but it had never seemed as big as it did now. Red grabbed the nearest map and searched for the nearest pokemon center. Leaf, looking over his shoulder, found it and pointed it out.

"There it is, we should take a right up here and then it'll be a straightaway," Leaf decided.

Red folded the map up and placed it back in his bag. Since the sun had begun to set, the lights from all the lamp posts came on, giving it an eerie feelings. A stray rattata scampered from one alley way to another, while the moans of a koffing could be heard down a dark street. Leaf shivered, finding this city surprisingly creepy at night.

"I'm sure it's much nicer during the day," she commented, mostly trying to convince herself.

Leaf practically jumped out of her skin when a loud crash echoed around them. Without thinking, she grabbed Red's waist, more squeezing him than hugging him. Her eyes frantically searched for the source of the noise while her every hair stood on end. Red looked down at Leaf, not too surprised at her actions. He had been her best friend for forever and they'd ventured out into a dark forest more than once. He gently pried her fingers away from him and gestured towards the rattata scurrying away from trash can.

She glanced up at him, her checks flushing red.

"Right, right," she said, letting go of him, but continued to look around them.

Determination suddenly came over Leaf as she remembered the jerk trainer and she was walking with such confidence that you would have never guessed moments ago she was a nervous wreck. Red followed her, noticing just how fast her emotions could change. He would never understand girls. It would probably be best just to stick to pokemon. The familiar glow of lights came into focus as they spotted a large red and white building. The words pokemon center where light up above two sliding doors.

When Leaf caught sight of the center, she practically began to run. She arrived at the door in less than a minute. She was about to walk in, but she hesitated. She toke a moment to compose herself, patting down her hair, and steeling her face. The glass doors slide open as she entered, her walking bordering on a swagger and runway walk. Red didn't pay much attention to her though, instead he marveled at the inside of the pokemon center.

Ahead was a large desk with a smiling woman in a nurses outfit and pink hair looped on both sides standing behind it. A large machine sat to her right, which Red assumed was used to heal injured pokeballs. A large, pink pokemon stood at the woman's side, offering a equally friendly smile. Many pokemon trainers lounged by table or sat on plush chairs. Red could see Leaf looking around for her competitor.

"Welcome to the pokemon center of Viridian City. I'm nurse Joy, and this is my assistant Chansey. How can I help you?" The pink haired woman said as Red approached the desk.

Red grabbed Leaf elbow and pulled her towards the desk while simultaneously placing both his pokeballs on the desk.

"Sure, let me take your pokemon for you," she handed them each a tray where they placed their pokeballs.

She picked up the trays and carried them over to the large machine. After placing the pokeballs in it, she pressed a button. It began to hum and glow. While it was humming, Nurse Joy pulled a key out for below her desk.

"Would you two like a room to stay in tonight?" She asked while the key dangled in her hand.

Red nodded yes as she handed him the key.

"Can I have your name please?" She asked kindly.

"Red and Leaf," Leaf answered.

"Thank you. Please return this key tommorow morning. I would appreciate it if you kept your room in good condition. Feel free to use the phones and training area tonight and tommorow. We have a food bar too if you are hungry. Thank you for coming and have a good night," she smiled as she placed the key in his hands.

A ding echoed from the machine and a Chansey began to remove the pokeballs from the machine. She placed them back on their trays and carried them over to Red and Leaf. She proclaimed her name happily as the trainers retrieved their pokemon.

"Thank you," Leaf said cheerfully.

As they walked away, a youngster approached them, a cocky grin on his face. Behind him was a small group of friends who all had smug looks on their faces. Leaf immediately recognized him as the kid who challenged her to a battle.

"Looks like you showed up after all, or are you here to tell me you chickend out?" He taunted her.

"Oh, it is so on," she flashed him an equally cocky grin.

"Good, meet me at the training area in 5 minutes,"

Leaf stood across from the boy, a pokeball in her hand. Red stood behind her silently willing her to kick this kid's ass. Behind the boy were his friends from earlier, and they were calling out his name, Joey. Leaf's grip on her pokeball tightened as he grabbed one of his own pokeballs.

"Go Charmander!"

"Let's go Rattata!"

Leaf's Charmander stood menacingly over the rattata, who didn't look nearly as confident as his trainer.

"You can have the first move," he called.

"Use scratch!" She commanded, not wasting a second.

Charmander's claws slashed the rattata and sent it tumbling backwards. Leaf could tell the one move had done a good deal of damage. Pride swelled inside her as she looked at her pokemon.

"Rattata, counter with a quick attack," Joey hollered.

With lightning speed, Rattata slammed into Charmander, making Charmander the one to fall backwards this time. He quickly recovered though, and used growl at Leaf's command. Rattata flinched, giving Charmander the oppurtonity to land yet another scratch attack.

"Tackle!"

Rattata's attack hit, leaving Charmander breathing heavily. Her heart pounded in her chest. She wondered how much more her pokemon could take.

"Come on Charmander! Don't give up!" She encouraged her pokemon.

"Char!" He yelled defiantly at the air.

He turned back to his opponent, only this time his stomach began to glow red. Leaf watched as a series of ember's shot from his mouth and enveloped the opposing pokemon. Unable to withstand the attack, the rattata fell to the ground unconscious.

"Way to go Charmander!" Leaf called to her pokemon excitedly.

"Char! Charmander!" He yelled.

Joey took a deep breath as he enlarged his last pokeball.

"Come on Rattata! Don't let me down!" He hurled his pokemon, a second Rattata emerging.

Two Rattatas? Those were his pokemon?

"Finish this one with an ember!"

The attack managed to make contact with the foe's Rattata as it leaped to the side. It countered with a tackle that Charmander dodged.

"Scratch!"

Charmanderran towards the foes pokemon,but the rattata slammed into Charmander's exposed stomach before Charmander could get in the hit. Charmander hit the ground hard, and this time did not get up.

"Good job, Buddy. You did great," she recalled her pokemon and reached for her pokeball.

She had never battled with Rattata before and honestly didn't even know his moves, but the opposing pokemon was already hurt. Leaf hoped it would be enough to win.

"Let's show him what a real Rattata looks like!" She yelled as her own Rattata appeared.

It bared its fangs and crouched low to the ground, ready to attack. Leaf quickly used her pokedex to check her new pokemon's moves. She put it back and thought up a strategy.

"Use growl, and then tackle!"

Her pokemon did as was instructed, but couldn't make contact with its tackle. It whirled around just in time to see Joey's rattata coming in fast with a quick attack. Leaf's Rattatat wasn't able to get away in time and toke a good amount of damage.

"One more time, you can do it!" She called.

Rattata ran towards the opposing pokemon, this time making contact. Along with Charmander's attacks, it wasn't able to take the tackle and fell to the ground. Leaf let out a triumphant cheer as she returned her pokemon. Joey looked defeated as she stared at his Rattata. Even though Leaf really didn't want to, she knew it was the right thing to go shake his hand.

"Good match," she smiled at him as she extended her hand.

After a moment he took it, "Thanks, that's a fine Charmander you have."

"Thanks."

The two shook hands and went back to their friends. Red smiled at leaf as he held his hand up high. She meet it with her own, unable to keep a smile off her own face.

He gave her an approving nod, and although he didn't say anything, she got his meaning.

"Thanks," she tried not to blush, but she could feel her checks turning red.

While Leaf's pokemon where being healed, they both took an oppurtonity to call their parents. Leaf's mom answered on the 3rd ring. Her hair was in curlers, and she wore a bathrobe, but her eyes seemed alert and awake when she spotted Leaf.

"Leaf! I'm so happy for you! You alread made it to Viridian? That's impressive. How has it been going?" Her mom asked excitedly.

Leaf began to recount the day, while Red told his mom about catching his first pokemon. Both were so wrapped up in their stories they didn't realize it was going on 11:00.

"Sweetie, I hate to say this, but you better be heading to bed," she said frowning.

"Wow, it's already that late. Do you want to see my Charmander real quick?" She asked, enthusiasm returning to her voice.

Without wait for a response, she ran over to Nurse Joy's desk. She said thank you and quickly attached her pokeballs to her belt. She ran back over to the computer and saw that Red had his bulbasaur out of his pokeball. She quickly released her Charmander.

"Mom, met Charmander, Charmander, this is my mom," Leaf pulled Charmander onto her lap as she sat back in front of the screen.

"Char," he said, waving at her.

"Why, arn't you just the cutest thing," she smiled.

Leaf smiled and quickly said her goodbyes and I love yous. The screen clicked off and Leaf felt herself missing her old room a little. She glanced at Red, who was ending his own call.

"Shall we?" He gestured towards the stairs.

He unlocked the door up the stairs in room 16 to reveal bunk beds and a small desk. A bathroom was included with a shower, toilet, and sink. Leaf was surprised at how small it was, but it wasn't a hotel. Exhausted she climbed up the ladder to the top bed. She lay sprawled out there, before dropping her bag to the floor and undoing her belt. She released Charmander, deciding she wanted him to sleep with her. He smiled and curled up into a ball at the foot of her bed. She watched Red throw off his bag and pull of his vest. Her heart fluttered as he glanced up and smiled at her.

"What a day, huh," he sat down on the bed.

"It exceeded all my expectations. It was perfect." She replied.

"Good night Leaf,"

"Good night Red,"

**Hopefully these chapters are a good length for everyone. If you would prefer any certain length for chapter, please leave a review. As always, I love constructive criticism, so if you have any say so. I'm still accepting OC's. The requirements are at the end of the first chapter. I'm trying a poll, so please review your answer!**

**Poll: Who is your favorite original Dex holder? Red, Leaf, or Blue?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! Moonspots here. So I apologize for posting this chapter late. My family doesn't have a computer at the moment so I have to use my IPad to type everything. Sucks, right? Anyways, the winner of the poll is...Red! There was only one vote, lol, but oh well. So shoutout to Red Alfa for being the poll winner.**

**Chapter 3**

Red jolted awake, sitting up so fast he almost slammed his forehead into the bottom of Leaf's bunk bed. His breathe was heavy as his heart hammered against the inside of his chest. He ran a hand through his messy brown hair, unable to get the image out of his mind. For four nights, he had been having horrible nightmares, each worse than the one before. This one was exceedingly bad. While he tried to calm his heart and slow his breath, Red was reminded of the reason he didn't want to travel with Leaf in the first place.

Red glanced up at the bottom of her bed and felt a sudden urge to check on her. He was sure she was sound asleep, but checking wouldn't hurt anyone. He silently climbed out of bed and peeked up at her. His stomach clenched and fear shoot through his veins. She was gone.

He backed away, his heart pounding so hard he was becoming light-headed. Where was she? Had Team Rocket already found him? All of his fears came flooding back to him as he grabbed his pokeball belt. He was overeacting, he told himself. Red walked over to the bathroom and knocked. When nobody answered, he opened it to reveal it was empty. He clicked on the lights and began to search for the room key.

After five minutes of searching, he concluded Leaf had to have taken it. He ran through the door, not caring how much noise he made as his feet thundered down the steps. He skipped the last two steps and slowed his pace as he approached the front desk. Nurse Joy didn't look happy.

"It is 2 in the morning, please keep it down," she frowned, dark circles under her eyes.

Red blushed a little, and couldn't help but wonder when she took breaks.

"Sorry, have you seen a girl my age, brown hair, brown eyes?" He asked.

"Yes, she went into the training area not too long ago," she indicated the way to the trainer's area, but Red was already running towards it.

Sure enough, as he approached the door he could hear her yelling. The sound of feet pounded against the floor inside. He swung open the door and looked inside. Leaf stood, a stop watch in her hand and a clip board in the other as she yelled encouraging at her Charmander. Set up in front of her was a obstacle course, complete with hurdles, tires, a miniature climbing wall and more. Her Charmander was in the process of hurdling when Red barged in.

"Dammit Leaf," he scowled, looking at her through narrowed eyes.

Leaf looked over at Red, surprised, but the smile forming on her lips was replaced with a grimace.

"Hey Red," she half smiled, knowing she was treading on thin ice.

"What are you doing at 2 in the morning in here? You scared me to death!" His anger was replaced with genuine worry for her.

"Sorry, I didn't think you would mind or notice. I just wanted to train a little," Leaf murmured, feeling a little guilty.

"Did you think to leave a note? I had no idea where you were!" His voice rose again.

This time Leaf was getting annoyed, "It's not like your my babysitter. I don't have tell you where I am every second of the day,"

"I know... Just please don't do that again,"

Leaf sighed as her Charmander finished the obstacle course and she clicked the stop watch. She was really unsettled by Red's sudden outburst. She didn't think she'd ever heard him speak so much at one time. He must be really upset.

"Great time Charmander! Do you want to join us?" Leaf looked over at Red while patting her pokemon's head.

Red shrugged, his pulse calming to almost normal. He still couldn't shake the feeling of fright he had earlier. He didn't know just how scary it would be to lose Leaf, until he thought he actually had. Maybe he should be trying to protect her instead of keeping her away. He enlarged his pokeballs and released his pidgey and bulbasaur.

"Bulba!"

"Coo!"

He looked over the obstacle course questioningly, his cool demeanor returning.

"I was timing Rattata and Charmander with this obstacle course in hopes of raising their speed and stamina too. You want Bulbasaur to give it a go? I doubt Pidgey could really do it, but I was thinking we could work on aim after this," Leaf explained.

Red nodded to his bulbasaur and it walked over behind the starting line, watching Rattatat bolt through the course. After it had finished, Leaf gave it the go head. Bulbasaur took off, jumping over a hurdle and balancing across a beam. Red watched his pokemon run through the course, making note of its weakness so they could work on them later. Bulbasaur finished much slower than Leaf's pokemon, but it looked satisfied with itself.

Leaf gave it a good belly rub before walking over to a pile of disks. After instructing her Charmander to aim for it, she threw one in the air. He fired up an ember, but the move missed badly. The training continued on for about another hour, but Red's mind was wandering. He couldn't get the image of Leaf's broken body out of his mind. It haunted him as he watched her throw a frisbee for Bulbasaur to knock down with a razor leaf, and it haunted him every time he closed his eyes.

"Let's head to bed," Leaf suggested after a long, drawn out yawn.

Red nodded in agreement and returned his pokemon. Leaf did the same and led the way to their room. Leaf fished the key out of her pocket and practically fell asleep as her head hit the pillow. Red turned off the light and laid down. Though his every thought rebelled against it, his body was begging him for rest. The fear was too great. But he had to sleep, if he wanted to be functional tommorow. He couldn't be afraid sleeping, so he closed his eyes.

* * *

Leaf woke up groggily, her head spinning as she threw the covers off herself. She slowly climbed down the ladder, almost missing the last step. She pulled a stray piece of hair out of her mouth, and turned towards to desk. Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped when she saw the alarm clock. 9:06. A small scream escaped her mouth, but she quickly covered her mouth with her hands, surprised she had screamed at all.

Red shot up so quick that this time his head smacked into the board of wood. He moaned as he rubbed the bump forming on his forehead. He shot a glare at Leaf, who was blushing furiously.

"I-the-it's past 9," she said sounding thoroughly embarrassed.

"So?" He looked more irritated as he swung his legs over the bed.

"I always wake up before 8. I've just wasted so much time, and I need to be training and stuff," she explained quietly.

Red moaned and shoved his face back into his pillow.

Leaf ignored him as she rushed into the bathroom and hastily began to brush her teeth while simultaneously brushing her hair. Red watched her slightly amazed at the speed she was getting ready and slightly annoyed that she wouldn't just let him sleep. Leaf spit and rinsed her tooth brush before returning both brushes to her bag. She grabbed it by the strap and pulled it into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Red sighed, a headache beginning to form already. He massaged the bump, cursing Leaf for screaming and cursing the low bunk beds. He ran a hand through his hair and decided that was good enough. He reached for his hat and set it on his head after he had changed into his usual apparel. Leaf emerged, wide-awake and ready to go.

"Ready?" She asked, grabbing her own hat off the desk.

Red just walked into the bathroom while Leaf waited. She couldn't take her yes of the clock as another minute passed by. After what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a minute, Red came out of the bathroom, looking very refreshed.

"Let's go!" She hurried him down the stairs and into the dinning area.

They grabbed a quick bite to eat and returned their room key before heading out the door. Leaf smiled as she felt the warmth of the sun soaking into her. She was right. The city did look better in the day. People bustled around them, paying little attention to the pokemon center as they made their way down the street. Leaf couldn't help but look at everything. She had never been to a city by herself before and she wanted to soak everything in. Red pulled out his map and looked around for any signs to help him find his next location. Leaf looked over his shoulder and spotted the gym. Her eyes lite up with excitement.

"To the gym!" She declared.

The gym was only a couple of blocks away from the pokemon center and Leaf could see it from over the top of a few smaller buildings. Excitement coursed through her. Her very first gym battle! She could practically squeal. She knew every gym specialized in a type, so she wondered which one this one specialized in. Hopefully grass, that way her Charmander had the advantage.

It stood 2 stories high with a fountain sitting between two sets of stairs leading up to the door. On the inside of both stairs where white pillars, giving it a slightly roman feel. The gym itself was red at the top and white at the bottom and in the middle was a pair of glass doors. Leaf toke the steps two at a time and reached the door in no time. She grabbed the handle and pulled, but to her surprise, it didn't budge. She pulled harder, but still nothing happened. Frustrated, she toke a step back and noticed the sign at the of the doors.

"Sorry, we're closed?! It's closed!" Leaf yelled unhappily. Red walked over and examined the note next to the closed sign.

He motioned Leaf over to read it.

We are sorry for the inconvienance, but the Viridian city gym is closed for the time being. We encourage you to train and visit the indigo platuea while the gym is closed.

She sighed, "Let's go check out the city and then we can go to the platuea place,"

When Leaf said check out, she literally meant it. They went in just about every shop they passed, Leaf wanting to buy something, only to have Red turn it down for logical reasons. After only an hour his legs felt like Jell-o. Leaf on the other hand looked like she could keep this up all day. Finally they stopped at the shop Red had been waiting for.

"The pokemart?" Leaf read the stores name out in wonder.

Without waiting, Red walked past her and into the store. Leaf hurried to catch up. Inside the store was filled with other trainers, examining all sorts of items that Leaf had never seen before. The pokemart was an average sized store with shelves and isles. Near the front was a checkout counter manned by two clerks. Leaf walked closer to a shelf to get a better look. She picked up a yellow spray bottle with the words antidote written across it in bold letters.

"What's this?" Leaf handed the bottle to Red.

"It cures posion," he explained without even glancing down at the bottle.

She toke the antidote back from him and placed it on the shelf. Leaf examined many other status curing items, such as the awakening and parylaze heal. Red wandered away from her, intrigued by the different items. Leaf finally came to something she knew, and wanted. She reached out and touched the red and white ball gently beforing pulling it off the shelf. There were over a hundred pokeballs there, and Leaf could only starein complete awe and wonder. She grabbed three otherpokeballs for good measures and hurried to the check out lane.

To her surprise, Red was already standing by the door, a bag in his hand, waiting. She watched him load various items into his backpack, before returning her attention to the store clerk. He gave her a friendly smile as she set her pokeballs on the belt.

"Did you find everything alright?" He asked and he entered in the amounts.

"Yeah, here you go," she handed him 400 pokedollars.

"Thank you! Please come again," he handed Leaf her bag.

Leaf pulled out her new possessions, and put them in her bag. She walked over to Red and smiled at him.

"Let's go to the pokemon league place! You lead the way!" Leaf said as the automatic doors swished behind her.

Red steered through the streets with Leaf trailing behind them. She couldn't take her eyes off all the people this time. Many of them had pokemon too. She watched a small girl chase after her growlithe, all the while giggling and tripping over her own feet. Another young professional looking, man walked confidently next to a kadabra. It seemed like pokemon were everywhere you looked, and it warmed Leaf's heart. The streets began to thin out after a couple of minutes and trees now loomed in front of them.

"It's this way probably another 10 mins," Red explained as they left the city.

As the house thinned out, the trees began to thicken. Small patches of sun slight hit the bottom of the forest floor through the rare spaces between trees. The forest was teeming with life, you could hear it all around you. The problem was being able to see the life around you. Leaf struck up a causal conversation with Red as they journeyed on. The two talked like any friends would, and Leaf found herself enjoying the normalness of their talk. Or maybe she was just enjoying talking to him. As she was figuring out which of the two it was, she heard a twig snap behind her, and then a rustle in the bushes.

Red immediately grabbed his pokeball, ready for what ever jumped out of those bushes. Good thing he did, because a few seconds later a purple pokemon jumped out from behind a tree, ready to fight. It had oversized ear and a large horn sticking out of its forehead above two oversized buck teeth visible in its mouth. It stood on all fours and was no bigger than a foot tall. Red pulled out his pokedex and aimed it at the pokemon.

"Nidoran, the posion pin pokemon. It stiffens its ears to sense danger. The larger its horns, the more powerful its secreted venom." The pokedex mechanically informed them.

Without a second to lose, Red threw out his pokeball. His pidgey appeared, hovering in front of Red. He watched the nidoran for a moment, coming up with a battle strategy. That horn on its head looked pretty nasty, so he wouldn't want pidgey to get poisoned by it.

"Sand-attack,"

Pidgey dove low to the ground and flung a cloud of sand at the wild pokemon. It began to cough and look around confused. Without having to her a command, pidgey dove forward and slammed into Nidoran's side with a quick attack. It flew backwards before a tree broke its fall. It shook its head, getting the remaining dust out of its over sized ears. It ran forward and jumped in the air, attempting to use double kick. It didn't make to its target though, because it was shot down with a gust attack.

Nidoran was panting heavily now, but didn't look ready to give up. It narrowed its eyes for a leer attack and while Pidgey was distracted, he finally connected a peck attack with Pidgey. The attack did little, and pidgey barely looked fazed. Red called up another gust attack for pidgey to use. The nidoran managed to doge this attack and counter with a double kick. Red didn't like the idea of this being a long battle. The chance of pidgey being poisoned continued to grow with each passing second.

"Quick attack,"

Pidgey dove towards Nidoran with amazing speed. The wild pokemon wasn't able to doge in time and was struck by the move full blown. It saumersalted backwards and didn't get back up.

Red tossed a pokeball out and watched as the wild pokemon was sucked inside. It shook one, two, three times before it let out a confirming ding. He retrieved his new pokemon and pulled something out of his bag. It looked similar to the antidote Leaf had picked up at the Pokemart, but it was slightly different. She watched curiously as Red began to spray it on his pidgey that now rested on his outstretched arm.

"What is that?" She asked.

"Potion,"

"So it heals your pokemon?" She observed that pidgey looked healthy again.

He just nodded as he returned his pokemon. Red drove his hands in his pockets and began to walk. Leaf longed to start up a conversation with him again, but she could sense that their moment was over. She glanced over at him before looking out ahead of them. In the distance, an all too familiar walked towards them waving his hand high in the air.

"Red, Leaf! How good to see you two here!" Blue called out.

He wore a smirk on his face as he approached them. He seemed even more cocky than normal today.

"Really glad to see you here too, Blue," Leaf smiled, sarcasm dripping from her words.

"You guys stop by the gym yet?" He ignored Leaf's comment,

"Yeah, we were heading over to see the Indigo Platuea," Leaf replied.

"Don't bother, pretty boring. Ya know, I havn't had a proper battle with you yet Red,"

"Maybe we should fix that,"

Leaf stepped away from Red as he threw out his pokeball. His pidgey appeared, ready to fight another battle. Leaf wondered what strategy Red planned on using, because pidgey had just finished a battle and was surely worn out. Blue tossed his pokeball and a strong pidgey appeared. The two bird pokemon eyed each other, both eager to fight.

"You can have the first move," Blue offered Red.

Wasting no time Red commanded, "Tackle,"

Red's Pidgey shot forward, but Blue's Pidgey simply dodged the attack. Red's pidgey, at his command, sent a gust of wind at Blue's Pidgey. It tried to hold its ground, but ended up being spun around in the gust of wind. Red's pidgey toke the opportunity to deliver a tackle to the opposing pokemon.

"Quick attack!" Blue called out.

Before it hit the ground, his pidgey changed directions and slammed into Red's pidgey. Even though Blue's pidgey had taken a considerable amount of damage, it didn't look like it at all.

"Pidgey, gust once more!" Red instructed.

"Counter it with your own gust!" Blue said

The two pidgey launched a gust move at each other. The whirlwinds collided for a moment, before a strong wind pounded into Red's pidgey. It tumbled backwards through the air before smacking into a tree. It tumbled to the ground and landed with a thud. Surprisingly, Red's pidgey pushed itself off the ground. There was a look of sheer determination in its eyes.

"Sand-attack, and gust!" Red called.

While still on the ground, pidgey sent up a cloud of dust before aiming a gust at it. The result was a sandstorm that collided with Blue's pidgey. It cried out as the sand pelted its body. Pidgey looked proud as it flew back up into the sky, ready to finish the battle.

"Get out of there!" Blue yelled frantically.

His pidgey used a gust to blow away the remaining attack. It looked battered and beaten, but far from done. At its trainers command, Red's pidgey tackled his opponents pokemon. But while Red's pidgey was close, Blue's pidgey used a close range gust. Poor pidgey could barely stand the attack and once more collided with the ground. This time, it did not give up though. Without a word, Red returned his pokemon and released his Bulbasuar.

"Bulba!"

"Use vine whip to grab Pidgey,"

Two vines shot out of Bulbasuar's back and wrapped around Pidgey's torso. It struggled as Bulbasuar whipped it around and around before finally throwing it into the ground. Pidgey hit the ground hard and was knocked out. Blue returned his pokemon and enlarged his next pokemon.

"Go Squirtle!" He released his starter pokemon.

"Squirtle, Squirtle!"

The two starter pokemon glared at each other menacingly, both looking ready to fight. At Red's command, Bulbasuar sent a flurry of razor leaves right at Squirtle.

"Use water gun to block the move!"

The two attacks collided, canceling each other out. Squirtle ran forward and slammed into Bulbasuar, making him skid backwards. It recovered quickly though and lashed out with a vine whip attack. Just as the vines were about to hit Squirtle pulled into its shell for a withdrawal attack. Bulbasuar pounded on his shell, but it did little to nothing.

"Water gun!"

Squirtle popped out of its shell and shot a spray of water right at Bulbasuar. Even though he was hit, the attack did little damage. Bulbasuar shook off the water and glared at Squirtle. Red thought to himself. If I use vine whip he'll just deflect it with his shell, but if I use razor leaf he'll use water gun to counter it.

"Use tackle," Red called out.

Bulbasuar charged at his opponent, and crashed into Squirtle before he could retreat to his shell. Squirtle stumbled backwards before firing another water gun attack.

"Take the attack and use your vines to grab Squirtle's feet,"

Bulbasuar did precisely as his trainer said and let the attack hit. While Squirtle was using water gun, Bulbasuar pulled his feet out from underneath him using his vines. Squirtle now hung upside down in the air. Bulbasuar swung Squirtle head first into a near by tree. Before Squirtle could recover, Bulbasuar bombarded him with a razor leaf attack. Squirtle was unable to withstand the two grass type moves and lay unconscious beneath the tree.

Blue returned his pokemon without saying a word. There was a look of surprise on his face, but he shook it off. Red also returned his pokemon, and with out a word walked over to blue with his hand forward. Blue shook it, but said no words. A feeling of understanding crossed the two.

"If your heading to the Indigo Plataeu, don't waste your time. It's closed anyways," he stuck his hands in his pocket and walked towards Viridian city.

"Smell ya later!" He called as he grew smaller and smaller.

Leaf turned to Red and asked, "So what now?"

"Viridian Forest,"

**I just love writing scenes between Leaf and Red. They are so cute! In the next chapter I plan on writing a lot more RedxLeaf scenes so be ready! Just a reminder that OC's are still open if anybody wants to make one. The requirement are in the first chapter. So, I've been inspired by a few other stories and I've decided to try something new. The first person to answer my question correctly gets to pick one of Red's or Leaf's Pokemon. Please review, I really appreciate everything you guys leave me!**

**Question: What is Leaf's favorite color?**


	4. Chapter 4

**So I'm back! This chapter took me a really long time to write because I have been flooded with school. So sorry about that. As for the the question in the last chapter, the winner is...Black Falcon! So I'll Pm you about the pokemon you want. Thanks to everyone who guessed and reviewed. **

**Chapter 4**

Trees taller than houses were shrouded by darkness as they loomed spookily just ahead. The cries of wild pokemon rang through out the air. A cool breeze blew Leaf's hair off her left shoulder while she hugged herself. Red stood in front of the ever darkening massive forest, his eyes filled with determination and a hunger for adventure. Goosebumps rose on the back of Leaf's neck, but the pull of curiosity overpowered the feeling of fear. Red hiked his newly stocked backpack up his shoulders. After their battle, Red had made a quick stop at the Pokemon Center, grabbed a bite to eat, and then revisited the PokeMart.

The sun seemed unable to touch the darkness between the trees, though it sat high in the sky. Leaf continued to walk deeper into Viridian Forest as Red re-checked his map. She listened closer to the sound of pokemon, trying to distinguish them. She wondered if she would catch any pokemon in there. Leaf glanced behind her, noting how the trees behind her were much thinner and lighter than the ones in front of her. Red put his map away and glanced around them. They stepped into the thicker part of the forest, and Leaf almost immediately missed the sun. Red just walked past her though, not seeming to care at all.

Leaf watched the back of his head bob up and down as he walked. She wondered whether he would ever think of her the way she did of him. He seemed pretty oblivious to her feelings, which she didn't know whether to be grateful for or not. Her biggest fear was being rejected and losing her best friend, but it was so hard not to blurt out she loved him every time she opened her mouth. Leaf had played the scenario of it so many times in her head it almost felt real. Only in real life he probably wouldn't confess he had the same feelings and kiss her.

"This is so creepy," She broke the silence.

He didn't answer, just kept walking.

"How come you never really talk? I mean, I do about 99%of the talking and now that I think about it, I really don't know a ton about you. I know you like pokemon and stuff I guess. We don't really have deep conversations like most friends do we? But I think we're pretty close, right?" She rambled on.

He glanced back at her, an eyebrow raised. She tried to keep the blush from creeping up her checks, but failed. He turned back and simply shrugged.

"Actions speak louder than words," He replied.

"Yeah I guess you. Could say that. So how have you liked our pokemon journey so far?" She walked up to his side and looked over at him.

"It's good,"

"That's good. Mine has lived up to every expectation and its only been a couple of days," She ducked under some low hanging branches as she talked.

"Battling is so fun too. It just gives you this high and it is one of the most fun things I've ever done. I feel so much closer to my pokemon when I'm battling too," Leaf was talking so much she almost didn't notice Red had stopped walking and was staring at her head.

She was about to ask why he was staring when she heard a soft chewing noise. It seemed to be right in her ears. She suddenly felt as though her hat was weighing down on the top of her head. Leaf slowly reached up and pulled her hat off her head. Sitting on top was an all too familiar green bug happily gnawing at her hat.

"Caterpie," It declared, looking up at her.

"Get off my hat," she frowned, trying to pick it up.

The second Leaf's hand touched the caterpie, it's mood turned from happy to very sour. It squirmed away from her grip and brought it tail around. Leaf shrinked away, but it was too late. A series of string shots hit her square in the face. She dropped her hat at once and took a step back, pulling at the strings furiously. Her back bumped into a tree and suddenly the air was filled with a buzzing noise. Red grabbed Leaf wrist with one hand and pulled her hat out from underneath the caterpie with the other. Without giving the pokemon a chance to retaliate, he was running away. Leaf stumbled blindly behind him, stil trying to pull away the sticky strings all over her face. She manged to pull away enough to see through one eye. Even though the tree was far behind them, the buzzing seemed to be getting louder. Confused, Leaf glanced behind her.

"Red!" She shrieked as he continued to pull her foward.

Leaf felt her heart drop into her stomach as she looked at the sheer number of them. There had to be at least twenty extremely angry beedrill in high pursuit of them right now. Fear coursed through her veins as she pulled of the remaining strings. Even though she could see perfectly, Red continued to lead her through the maze of trees. Leaf didn't resist. She doubted she could manuevur through the forest nearly as well as he did. Leaf sneaked a peak back at the bug pokemon to find that they were gaining on them. Pretty soon they would be on them, and that would not be pretty.

"They're gaining on us," Leaf said breathlessly, "We need to fight,"

"No," he answered back without a second to waste.

They suddenly veered sharply to left, so sharp that Leaf almost lost her footing. He let go of her now and was full on sprinting. Ever since she could walk, Leaf had prided herself on being the fastest in pallet town, but for once she did not want to be in front. The trees seemed to thin up and the sun was peaking through their branches. Red finally found what he had been looking for. In front of them was a small lake. Small waves illuminated by the sun rippled across its surface slowly. Lone pokemon sat at its edge peacefully drinking or cooling off in the refreshing water.

Without a second thought, Red had thrown his bag off his shoulder and was running right into the water. Leaf followed his lead and found herself in waist length water withing seconds.

The beedrill erupted from the forest in a frenzy, looking around eagerly for their lost prey. Red and Leaf were submerged up to their chins. Leaf's heart was pumping so loud in her chest she feared it would give them away. They scanned the area, spotting the various wild pokemon and even looking right at them. But the beedrills must have thought them for more wild pokemon, for the lingered only a few moments before buzzing off to search somewhere else. Red and Leaf stood there for a few minutes, neither one of them daring to move in case the beedrill came back. After another minute of silence, Red deemed it safe enough to leave the water.

They emerged soaking wet and cold to the bone. Leaf couldn't help but chatter her teeth as she hugged her arms around herself. Red was a littler more dignified and pulled of his soaking vest and wrung it out. Leaf fumbled with her pokeball belt before releasing her fire lizard pokemon. It looked up at its trainer happily as it shot a small ember into the air. Leaf patted her pokemon on the head and held her hands over the small flame flickering above his tail. Red watched her for a moment before rummaging in his bag for something.

"Here," Red held out a clean vest.

Leaf gingerly took it, her eyes studying it in awe. Putting it didn't make her much warmer, but she knew the gesture was out of kindness.

"Thanks," She smiled at him.

He nodded and slung his wet vest over his shoulder. She picked up her small fire pokemon, relishing his warmth. He cried out happily and licked Leaf's cheek, causing her to giggle.

"How did you know they wouldn't see us in the water?"

"I didn't," A sly grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Leaf's jaw dropped open. She stared at him, studying the way his dark brown eyes stared back at hers with confidence. Leaf huffed, shaking her head in disbelief. He bent down and pulled her white hat off of the shallow waves lapping at the shore. He placed it back on her head as he walked by, and then shoved his hands into his jean pocket. Leaf scurried to pick up her discarded satchel and ran to Red's side. She was still in shock her friend would have just gone out on a wim like that, it was unlike him.

"That was so risky," she sputtered, her charmander nodding in agreement.

"Life's full of them," Red didn't miss a beat.

"What if they would have recognized us?" She pressed "We would have been dead meat."

"We could have hide underwater, not like they can swim,"

Red wasnt much a talker, but when he did open his mouth, it was usually something clever, or important. Leaf on the other hand loved to talk, like most girls do, and would ramble on about pointless topics for long periods of time. Leaf kept her mouth shut this time, not sure of what to say in reply. She sighed, giving up, and looked around them. They had walked back into the shady part of the forest, though Leaf had no idea which direction they needed to be going.

"Can I see the map?" She asked.

He instinctively reached for his pocket, but slowed down when of he realized his mistake. Leaf groaned as he pulled out a mushy, splotchy mess of paper. Red slowly tried to in rumple it, but he only accomplished tearing it and ruining it even more. He flashed Leaf a apologetic smile.

"Which way do you need to be going?" Leaf fumed, hoping they were completely lost.

Red nodded forward. The two hiked through the dense forest for a couple of hours without anything eventful. Leaf had seen many different types of pokemon, including the dreadful caterpie. She had long ago dried off, but Red hadn't asked for his vest back, and Leaf wasn't about to give it up. Charmander now walked next her side joyfully, like always. She had been keeping her eyes peeled for anymore wild pokemon, but so far hadn't had any luck. Her stomach began to grind inside her, emitting a weird noise.

"Let's stop and eat," Leaf suggested.

Red agreed. They stopped in a small clearing that the sun was barley visible in. Leaf set her bag down and went into the woods with Charmander to find sticks as Red rummaged through his bag. He found his foldable pot and pulled it out along with two cans. Leaf meanwhile was humming to herself as she continued to pick up sticks littering the forest floor. Charmander was more than happy to help and he was carrying a handful of sticks himself. Leaf was about to pick up a thicker stick when she heard a soft chewing noise. She groaned inwardly, assuming it was another caterpie. She beckoned her pokemon over and slowly began to lift the log.

Underneath was a small caterpillar like pokemon, munching on some crushed leaves. Unlike the caterpie though, it was a tanish yellow color with a pink nose and a large cone shaped horn on its head and a smaller one of the tip of its tail. The pokemon was very small and seemed not to mind their presence. Leaf smiled and let out a small awe as she observed the wild pokemon. She crouched down low and studied it for a moment. She knew right away she wanted to capture it, but she didn't want to disturb it or attack it either.

"Hi there buddy," She cooed, extending a hand.

It glanced up at her hand and sniffed it cautiously. While it was deeming her friendly or not, Leaf pulled out her pokedex and scanned the pokemon.

"Weedle, the hairy bug pokemon. It's often found in forests eating leaves. It has a sharp venomous stinger on its head." The pokedex said.

"So weedle's your name," she murmured as it went back to eating.

She reached to her belt and pulled off a small empty pokeball. Enlarging it, she tapped it against his body, engulfing it with a red light and sucking it into the pokeball. It shook three times in her hand before it let out a ding. Leaf squealed in happiness. She let out her newly caught pokemon at once and let it get acquainted with her starter pokemon. Her weedle seemed to take a liking to Charmander at once and next it squirmed over to her feet. She picked it up and placed it on her shoulder, smiling as she imagined what Red would think of her coming back with the pokemon. She quickly gathered the rest of her fire wood and walked back to camp.

Red glanced up from the soup he had made when Leaf walked back to their little camp. He immediately noticed the pokemon on her shoulder and gave her a questioning look. Leaf pretended not to notice as Charmander and her placed their fire wood in a pile. She peered in his pot, causally checking to see what was for supper.

"Leaf, there's a weedle on your shoulder," he phrased it more as a question than a statement.

"Yup!" She beamed with pride, "This is my newly caught weedle."

Red walked over to her and examined her newly caught pokemon. He looked over at her and they shared a smile. Leaf followed him back over to the fire wood where they began to arrange it to support a camp fire. Charmander shoot an ember at it, and it suddenly became alive with a crackle and pop of light. He set the pot over the fire and called out his pokemon. They called out their respectful names and began to devour their food. Leaf released her rattata as well, and watched as it scampered over to join its friends. Soon the soup was hot enough to eat, and Red and Leaf didn't need to be told twice their food was ready.

After everyone was finished eating, they had a small clean up session. The fire burned brightly, while the waves of heat rolling off it pulled everyone towards it. The sun was starting to set and Leaf wanted nothing more than to stay their and have a bonfire. Seeing Red was ready to get up and leave, she pulled a bag filled with marshmallows out of her bag.

"Look what I brought!" Leaf exclaimed, holding her prize out in the air.

Red took one look at the bag, and ran off to find the perfect stick. Leaf smiled to herself as ripped open the bag and shoved a marshmallow on the closest stick she could find. Red returned a minutes later with a nice roasting stick and proceeded to roast the perfect golden marshmallow. Leaf preferred her marshmallows burnt, so the middle would be nice and goey. Soon the pokemon had grabbed sticks and were roasting their own marshmallows in no time. Camps fire songs and laughs were shared while the fire burned brightly in the darkening night. Before they knew it, night was upon them.

"We should probably get some rest," Leaf said.

Red nodded in agreement, watching as the ember from the fire flickered weakly in their ashes. They both recalled their pokemon and unpacked their sleeping bags. Leaf set it out and crawled between the covers. She was asleep before her head hit her pillow. Red stayed awake a bit longer though. He hadn't been very fond of sleep lately. He knew he needed the rest though, and forced himself to close his eyes, dreading what came next

"Red," Leaf's voice urgently whispered, pulling him out his sleep.

He opened his eyes and waited for them to focus on Leaf's face looming over his own. At first he thought his eyes were taking an extra long time to adjust to the trees in the background, but he realized that everything around her face was white because of fog. He sat up, and Leaf leaned back so they wouldn't hit their heads together. He looked around, but there wasn't much to see. A white fog had rolled over the forest so thick you could cut it with a knife. Leaf's eyes watched him urgently as he took everything in.

"There's something in your bag," Leaf whispered.

He looked at her questioningly.

"I didn't want it to be a beedrill," she explained.

He unzipped his sleeping bag and stood up quietly. Sure enough, there was a scratching noise coming from his bag. As they inched closer, the movement stopped. A yellow thunder-bolt tail stuck out of the bag. The pokemon inside crawled out of his bag toreveal an all to familiar electric rodent.

"Pikachu?" It looked at them surprised.

Sitting on top of its head and covering its ears was Red's baseball cap. Laying by its feet was his pokedex. Red took a step toward it, but it snatched up the pokedex in its mouth and ran off. Without a second thought, Red was running after it. He heard Leaf call out his name, but he kept running. No way was he about to loose the one thing professor Oak had given him. He would hear no end of it from Blue. The pikachu was fast, but so was Red. After realizing that it couldn't out run him, it shoot up the nearest tree.

Red began to climb up the tree after the wild pokemon determinedly. It watched him worried. The pokemon's cheeks began to sizzle with electricity. Red was climbing pretty fast, and he would have the pikachu withing reach soon. He heard Leaf running up the tree below him, but he continued to climb. The pikachu looked about ready to shock him, and he realized how dealy an electric attack could be from this height.

"Red!" Leaf screamed in fear.

Red swung his head around in time to see an angry beedrill flying incredibly fast right at him. Before he had a chance to react, it was shoot down by a bold of electricity. He watched it spiral down and hit the forest floor not far from Leaf. Red turned back around and exchanged a wide eyed look with the pikachu. Leaf jumped back as the beedrill pushed itself up and began to buzz angerly. The noise was suddenly amplified as it seemed to come from all around them.

"Red!" Leaf called again.

The pikachu ran right down past him, his hat and pokedex discarded in its panic. Leaf ran forward and caught the pokedex before it smashed to pieces. Red snatched his hat from the air as he began his descent. A swarm of beedrill twice as large as the last one they had seen was flying at them. Seeing Red up in the tree, Leaf knew she had to stall them while he climbed down. She called out her Charmander and Weedle, knowing rattata wouldn't be very effective in a battle against flying pokemon. The wild pikachu let out a startled cry and ran back towards Leaf. About 5 beedrills were in high pursuit of the electric mouse.

"Ember!"

Charmander hit two beedrill, and KO'd them with the super effective move. The pikachu sent out a thunder shock and hit the other three, knocking them out as well. They turned to face the other swarm. Leaf commanded her weedle to use a string shot while pikachu continued to shook the swarm. It did little to dent it though. Red finally hopped from his tree and called out his pidgey, bulbasuar, and nidoran.

"Gust, razor leaf, posion sting!" He instructed

"Ember, string shot!"

All the pokemon fired their attacks, but the swarm was upon them. Suddenly the everything was lost in the chaos. Red felt his throat clench as he stepped away from the action. A beedrill flew at him, it's drill like arms raised and ready to attack. He jumped away just before it slammed into him. It was about to come around for round 2 when it was slashed repeatidly with two vines. Red looked at his grass pokemon appreciatively before it returned to the mass battle. He saw the occasional flash of fire or bolt of lightning, but he couldn't see Leaf anywhere.

"Leaf!" He called out in a panic.

And then they were gone as soon as they had come. Red noticed many of the pokemon were wounded as they retreated back into the safety of the forest. Leaf was facing him, panting heavily and hugging her weedle closely. Red returned his pokemon quickly and walked over to her. Charmander sat at her feet, his face a sickly green color. He spotted the wild pikachu laying wounded not far away. Without thinking, he ran over and stopped up the hurt pokemon. He knelt down and placed it next to Charmander.

"Do you have an antidote?" Leaf asked.

He nodded, pulling out a needle and a small container of the antidote. He also grabbed an Oran berry from his bag. He filled up the needle with the antidote and gave Charmander a shot. Charmander sighed in relief and leaned against Leaf's leg. He tended pikachu' wounds next. It watched him the whole time, its eyes full of questions. Red guessed that people typical hadn't been very kind the pikachu. When he finished tending its wounds, it scampered away. Before it left though, it gave them one final look.

"Let's go before we get attacked again," Leaf said.

Red swung his bag over his shoulder and waited for Leaf to return her pokemon. She was still breathing hard, and looked pretty shaken up. She bent down and grab her bag. Red could see tears in her eyes and put a hand on her shoulder. The two walked back towards pewter city, both more than ready to leave the forest. They had been walking about 45 mins when Red noticed that Leaf was breathing heavily.

"I need to rest," she said.

"We're almos there," he urged her on.

She gulped, nodded, and took another step. Her leg suddenly crumbled underneath her and she fell. Red caught her before she hit the ground. Her face looked unnaturally pale, and she was shaking. He noticed the back side of her shirt was torn and a small cut ran across her lower back.

"Stay with me Leaf," He begged her.

She looked up at him, her eyes watery and unfocused. Her lips parted to say something, but they never left her mouth. Her body went limp, and everything turned black.

What a cliffhanger, huh? So hopefully Leaf will be okay, but you never know right. It was super fun writing this chapter because of all the action and interaction between Leaf and Red. What do you guys think of this mysterious pikachu? Thanks to everyone who reads, reviews, favorites, and follows my story!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter** 5**

A small rasp sounded from behind the wooden door. A man looked up from behind his polished desk. He wore a black suit that was a shade darker than his black buzz cut hair. A Persian laying peacefully at the corner of his desk raised his head at the sound. The man stroked the cat pokemon's head and looked back down at the paper he had been reading.

"Come in," his voice was low and commanding.

A tall woman dressed in a white dress with a team rocket insignia walked in. Her blood red hair was cut short and curled around her chin. She knelt to one knee with her head bowed down in respect.

"Giovanni, a pleasure to see you again," she stood back up, her red eyes searching his cold brown ones.

"Likewise Ariana," he replied, glancing up from his work.

"We have new information about the shoe marks we found. We have narrowed our search to a single pair of shoes," she looked pleased with herself as she recited the information.

"The shoes can be identified from their tread marks as the 2 year old Kanto swish model and are a size 7. Judging from their size, we are guessing the owner of these shoes is a 12-13 year old boy. He likely lives in Pallet Town, the closest town." She informed him.

Giovanni thoughtfully stroked his Persian, his face showing no emotion. He regarded Ariana with cold eyes, her confidence wavering under his stare.

"What do you propose we do?" He tested her.

"I... I think that we should send grunts to search the town for the boy. Once they find him, they should take him, and possibly his family if he doesn't cooperate. We can get information out of him that way," She explained.

"You think that we can simply take a family, and nobody will notice? You would practically be begging for the police to come arrest us," he growled at her stupidity.

Ariana shrunk away from his harsh words, her eyes darting to the floor. Giovanni let out a breathe of disapproval.

"Send out the police grunts, and tell them to find the boy. Have them make up a story about how his life is in danger and they need to keep him in police custody to protect him. Make them interrogate him, and if he doesn't give us the answers, fake an attack on the station and steal the boy. At that point do whatever you need to to get information out of him,"

Ariana nodded, her red hair bobbing up and down as she thought this made much more sense than her plan, but said nothing. She glanced from the cat pokemon purring contently, to her leader's stone face.

"And if he knows nothing?" She asked.

"Kill him,"

Red's legs numbly moved forward, every muscle in his body begging for a break, no matter how small. He ignored the pain, and instead focused on the unconscious body in his arms. Her head was leaning against his chest, her hat had fallen off in to her lap. Her face was unnaturally pale with a sickly green tint in her checks. Her light brown hair was a mess around her, but Red couldn't help but notice the curves of her lip and the small freckles dotting her nose. He tried to memorize every detail, fearing the worst. She let out a small moan of pain, bringing him back to his mission on hand. He had been walking nonstop for almost a half hour now. Since the moment she passed out, he had been carrying her in his arms, determined to keep her alive. He would have called his pokemon out to help him carry her, but he feared if he stopped moving he wouldn't be able to start again.

He had to be getting close to Pewter City by now. He heard the occasional flurry of wings and scurry of paws, but he ignored it. Nothing mattered right now, but getting her to safety. He could see the outline of the pewter city on the horizon, and relief filled him. Red stumbled, before finding his footing. He prayed to Mew that someone would walk by and help him. But nobody did.

Finally Red arrived at the city limits, every step taking an enormous amount of effort. A man walking by with spiky brown hair and tan skin stopped when he saw Red. He quickly ran over to Red, his face a mask of concern.

"What happened? Are you alright?" He asked.

Red just shook his head weakly, and pushed Leaf towards the stranger. The man got the memo, and took Leaf from him. As much as he didn't like giving her to a strange man, he didn't think he could carry her any farther.

"She was poisoned," He said between heavy breaths.

"We should take her to the pokemon center. Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes," Red nodded.

Once inside the pokemon center, the man brought Leaf to the front desk. The moment Nurse Joy saw her, she began to give order to the chansey surrounding her. She hurried around the desk and felt Leaf's forehead. The man explained what had happened as they brought out a stretcher. He laid her down on the it and they began to whisk her away. Red followed, worry eating him alive.

"Are you her brother?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Friend, we were traveling together," Red replied meekly.

"You'll need to wait out here. I assure you she'll be fine though," Nurse Joy said as they went through a pair of double doors.

Red watched the doors swing back and forth, his stomach clenching. He stood there for a moment, debating as to whether or not he should follow them. With a sigh he turned around and found the seat closest to the door. Resting his head on his hands, he waited and waited and waited. He could feel his eyes growing heavy and fought to keep them open. Just for a minute, he promised himself as he fell asleep.

"Excuse me sir,"

Red slowly awoke, his eyes taking a moment to focus. Nurse Joy stood over him, her hand gently shaking his shoulder. He jolted up, his eyes darting around nervously looking for Leaf. Joy smiled at him sweetly, finding his concern very cute.

"Your friend is doing fine. She is a strong fighter and will recover in no time," She informed him happily.

"Where is she," He looked around the room.

"Follow me," Joy clutched her clipboard to her chest as she lead Red down a hall and into a room.

Leaf lay in the bed, the blankets pulled up to her chest and her hair soaking wet. Sitting on her head was her newly caught weedle, and on her lap were Charmander and Ratattat. They were so engaged in a movie on T.V. with a blonde haired princess and kecleon that they didn't even notice him walk in. Joy closed the door behind her, and Leaf's head turned to the side. Her eyes lit up the second she saw him, followed shortly by a big grin.

"Leaf," He sighed in relief.

"Hey Red," She sat up in her bed, causing all of her pokemon to shift with her.

"I was so worried about you," Red confessed.

Leaf's cheeks flushed, "I'm fine."

"What were you thinking? You could have died! Why didn't you tell me you were poisoned?" His relief was masked by his annoyance that she even put herself in that position.

"Charmander needed it more than I did. Besides, I'm fine. There's no need to worry," She patted her charmander's head.

Red shook his head in disbelief, unable keep from admiring Leaf for her love of pokemon. He took a seat in the recliner next to her bed, watching the t.v. for a moment. It was obvious to tell that even though she was in much better condition than a few hours ago, she was no where near ready to leave her bed and travel.

"How long till you are all better?"

"I can leave tomorrow, but Joy recommended two days of rest,"

Knowing Leaf, she would no doubt be out and about tomorrow. Even now she seemed anxious to get up and do something. Red was surprised that she was sitting so still and watching the movie. He squirmed in his chair.

"You don't have to stay in here and wait for me to get better, you know," Leaf pointed out.

"What else would I be doing?" Red cocked his head to the side.

"You could go look around the city. I know you're already bored sitting here with me. Heck, I'm bored sitting here with me," Leaf offered her a toothy grin.

"I'll be back before supper," He promised, sitting up abruptly.

Leaf watched him walk away excitedly, cursing her sick body for trapping her here. Red stepped outside, and took a breath of fresh air. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. A breeze drifted by, wafting the smell of newly budded flowers through the air. To the left of the center he could see the gym, but he would visit that tomorrow with Leaf. He pulled a new map out of his pocket, and examined the city. He spotted a museum icon not far from him, and decided to check it out.

It was a short walk to the Pewter City Museum. The museum was a large brown and black building, with a sign proclaiming its name over a pair of glass double doors. Red pulled open the doors and was greeted by a short man behind a counter.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pewter City Museum. We are proud to hold the largest collection of fossils, and fossilized pokemon in all of the regions! The entry fee is 50$, but if you wish to have a guide, it is an extra 25$," the man cheerfully explained.

Red handed the man 50$ without a word and walked into the museum. The man wasn't lieing. Surrounding him were tons of fossils, and even some complete skeletons. His mouth dropped open as he walked over to a real skeleton of a kabutops. It had wicked looking scythes for hands and a crescent moon shaped head. Next to the skeleton was a life-like model of the pokemon. Below was a kabuto and a skeleton kabuto. Red marveled at them for a moment, admiring how real the pokemon looked, before moving on the next pre-historic pokemon.

There were countless fossils there, which took up the majority of the museum. Upstairs it featured a rocket, and a few other cool things, but it was mostly fossils. Having seen mostly everything, Red made his way to the back of the museum to get some fresh air. That's when he heard voices, in the otherwise empty area. At first they were indistinguishable, but as he neared he heard them clearer.

"Please, leave us alone," a small high pitched voice begged, her voice wavering in fear.

"Just hand it over kid, and I swear I won't hurt ya," a rough older sounding voice pestered her impatiently.

Red swung open the door to reveal a small girl and man. The girl looked no older than 6, with brown hair pulled into pig tails, big blue eyes, and a light pink dress. Clutched to her chest was a pink star shaped pokemon, looking equally as fearful. The man was in his mid twenties, and looked pretty gruff. He wore a black hat and all black clothing. A shiver rushed down Red's spine when he spotted the big red R on the front of his shirt. The man growled at him, turning his attention away from the girl.

"Get the hell out of here kid, this ain't none of your business," the man said threatening.

For a second, there was nothing Red wanted to do more. Here was team rocket, standing right in front of him. The people that threatened to destroy his life, and the grunt showed no signs of recognition of Red. If he left now, he might be able to go back, and pretend like none of this happened. He would be safe. But then he saw the look on the little girl's face, and his hands clenched into a fist. Anger boiled up inside of his, and he found himself taking a step towards the man.

"Leave her alone," Red growled, his eyes narrowed menacingly.

Before he could register it, a fist caught him on his jaw and sent him reeling. He stumbled backwards and reached up to touch his split lip. Warm blood clung to his fingers. He wiped away the remaining blood with the back of his hand and reached for his pokeball.

"So you want to battle you little son of a bitch," the grunt taunted him, reaching for his own pokeball.

"Go Nidoran!"

"Zubat!"

Nidoran appeared in a flash of red light, eager to fight. The pokemon across from it was a pokemon tht looked like a small blue bat with over grown ears and no eyes.

"Nidoran, use focus energy!" Red instructed.

Nidoran focuses intently, while the opposing zubat swooped down to use wing attack. Under Red's command. Nidoran dodged in the nick of time and while the zubat was close, used peck. The focus energy paid off, as the attack landed a critical-hit. Zubat was hurt, but it certainly was not out.

"Supersonic!"

Zubat let out a screech, followed by rings of gold that surrounded Nidoran. Nidoran immediately began to become dizzy and stumbled around, barely staying up right. Red cursed under his breathe as he returned his pokemon. He enlarged his next pokeball and tossed it. It hit the ground and Pidgey appeared in a flash of red light.

"Pidgey, use quick attack!"

Pidgey shoot forward with incredible speed and slammed into Zubat. Before it had a chance to recover, Pidgey blasted it with a full power gust. The zubat spun in the air for a moment, before it composed it self. It lurched forward and sunk itsteeth into pidgey. It began to drain energy from pidgey using leech life. Pidgey cried out in panic and began to flap around, trying to dislodge the pokemon.

"Pidgey, get it off by spinning!" Red instructed.

Pidgey began to spin as it dove towards the ground, gaining speed. At the last second, it pulled up, Zubat falling off its back and onto the ground. Pidgey swooped back around and dive bombed the pokemon, this time not letting up. Pidgey hit Zubat hard, knocking it out cold. The grunt scowled as he returned his pokemon and sent out his next one. A purple spherical pokemon emerged, toxic gasses hanging around it. It had two large vacant eyes and below its mouth was a skull and cross bones.

"Koffing!" It declared its name.

The grunt glanced at the third pokeball on Red's belt and then back at him. A michevious grin spread across his face, causing goosebumps to crawl up Red's arm. He grabbed his last pokeball and released another koffing. Red was about to send out bulbasaur when the grunt spoke up.

"Smokescreen, both of you!" He commanded.

Both of the pokemon opened their mouth and a thick smog surrounded Red and the girl. The girl began to cough violently as the smoke filled her lungs.

"Gust," Red said between coughs.

The smoke began to clear up around them as his pidgey furiously blew the smoke away. When it had cleared, Red say that the grunt had escaped. He scowled to himself, wording if the grunt would tell his leader about him. He turned back to the girl, whose face was now covered in smoke and smog. She looked relieved and happy none the less.

"Thank you so much sir," she walked over to him.

"Cleffa!" The small pokemon in her arms jumped out and hugged Red.

Soon enough, the little girl was hugging him as well. Red hugged them back, a warmth filling his chest as he looked down at her. She offered him a shy smile before pulling her Cleffa back to her.

"Now where are your parents?"

Red stood in an abandoned park. The flowers bloomed the colors of the rainbow, and occasionally a pokemon would scamper by to smell them. Bulbasuar stood at his side, smelling the flowers himself. Red crouched down and scratched his pokemon behind the ear before smelling them himself. He reached down and plucked a bright red one, thinking that Leaf would like it. He picked a couple more and tied them together with a thin string.

He had cleaned the smoke off his face, but the stench of it still clung to his clothes. There was no hiding the large crack in his lip either. He would just have to make up a story. A large part of him had decided that telling Leaf about the team rocket incident would not be very smart. She was very stressed out as it already was, and he just felt like he should keep his problems to himself.

"Should we do a little training?" Red asked Bulbasaur, as they walked away from the meadow.

Bulbasaur enthusiastically nodded his head yes, causing Red to chuckle. He released his other two pokemon when they were far enough away from the flower field. They trained and Red decided that he should join in on the fun too. After an hour, they were all exhausted and ready to go back. Red returned his pokemon and headed back to the pokemon center. A quick glance at the clock told him that it was a quarter til 7. He jumped in the shower before walking over to Leaf's room.

"Hey Red," Leaf smiled as she heard him enter.

Her head turned to look at him, her emotion going from happy to horrified when she spotted the split lip.

"What happened?" She asked, eyeing the battle wound.

"Just got into a heated battle with another trainer, it was a pretty close battle, but I won," Well, it was mostly true.

Leaf stared at him, her face mixed with uncertainty, but she said nothing in response. Red glanced at the t.v. to find a movie playing with a deerling, stunky, and bunnelby playing in a meadow peacefully. What was Leaf watching? He plopped down on the chair next to her, feeling his wet hair sprinkle water everywhere, and handed Leaf the flowers. A small blush formed on her cheeks as she accepted them.

"Wanna go out to eat?" Leaf asked.

Red smiled, nodding at his friend. He sat up excitedly and threw the covers off herself to reveal that her traveling clothes and even shoes were on. She swung her legs off the bed and jumped up, excited to be moving again. She returned her pokemon that still lay on the bed. Leaf turned to Red, her face shining with a large smile. Together, the walked out of the pokemon center and into the lamp-lit city. Even though the sun was visible in glimpses behind the buildings, the streets still held a dark feeling to them.

They walked around the city for about 20 minutes until they found a suitable restaurant. It was a take-out chinese place, but there was nothing in the world they would rather have had. After they received their food, Leaf and Red headed off to the meadow Red visited earlier that day. Once there, they both released their pokemon. Everyone was chowing down happily as a flock of birds circled above. Leaf glanced up at them, watching the 10 or so spearow fly around the meadow, but thought nothing about it. Suddenly, a lone spearow dived down towards them, and soon the rest of the flock followed.

"Char!" Charmander warned, barely jumping to the side as a spearow's beak grazed his side.

The clearing erupted in chaos as the spearow began to steal the food. Charmander shot one out of the sky with an ember, while Bulbasaur lashed out with vine whip. Leaf protected her head;the flock relentlessly pecking and pulling at her hat and head. In all the craziness, one of the spearows scooped up Weedle in its talons and began to fly away. Weedle cried out in panic as it was carried away.

"Pidgey, get weedle back!" Red cried, swatting away the pestering pokemon.

Pidgey flew out after it, its wings flapping viciously as it raced to save its friend. Leaf ran towards her stolen pokemon, fear threatening to flood her. While the trainer's pokemon fought off the flock, Pidgey and spearow were caught in a deadly race. Pidgey was gaining on spearow, the additional weight of Weedle slowing it down. The spearow sensed that Pidgey was gaining and turned around to face it. Pidgey slammed into the spearow hard, causing it to loose its grip on its prey. Without a second thought, Pidgey dove underneath Weedle, catching it on its back. The spearow wasn't done yet though, and flew at pidgey with amazing speeds. Its beak connected with Pidgey's wing, causing it to cry out in pain. Weedle shot out a string shot, entangling its wings. In its panic, the spearow hit Weedle off Pidgey's back before plummeting in a tangled mess. Weedle and the spearow tumbled through the sky helplessly. Pidgey tucked in its wings and dove towards its friend.

At this rate, Pidgey knew it would never make it in time to save his friend from ending as a splat on the pavement. In sheer determination, Pidgey began to glow white. At moment before weedle hit the ground, Pidgey emerged a pidgeotto, and snatched up the bug pokemon. Weedle curled around the newly evolved pidgeotto's talons as they soared back to their trainers. Leaf cried in relief when she saw her pokemon had safely returned. The rest of the spearow had flown off to save their plummeting leader from death. Red beamed in pride as his bird pokemon landed in front of him.

"Nice work Pidgeotto," He praised it, stroking its head.

Leaf hugged her pokemon close to her, close to tears.

"Thank you so much," She smiled at Pidgeotto.

"Now, all we need to do is challenge the Pewter City Gym," Red decared, his eyes shinning with newfound determination.

**Sorry, I know the ending kinda sucks. I just couldn't think of a better way to end it. Anyways, our first pokemon to evolve! How exciting right! So does anybody know the two movies I referred to Leaf as watching? If so leave, a review please. Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Red and Leaf stood side-by-side in front of the Pewter City Gym. The gym looking like it had been made with giants boulders, and concrete. That being said, it was mostly grey with the words Peter Gym carved into the top right corner of the building. Leaf grabbed the handle of the giants wooden doors, and pulled it open. Inside, was a giant room, most of it covered with a rocky terrain, and jagged rocks stuck out of the ground. On the far side of the gym there was a small platform and a set of steps leading up to it. Meditating on the platform, was a tan skinned man wearing a green vest over an orange shirt. His brown hair was spiked and his face a mask of calm. Red recognized him almost immediately as the man who helped him with Leaf.

"Excuse me," Leaf hollered, waving her arms.

Red cringesd and almost snapped at Leaf to be quiet, but he saw the smile on the gym leader's mouth. The man stood up and descended the stairs. Red and Leaf walked over to him, Leaf's heartbeat pounding in her chest.

"I never got the opportunity to thank you. I'm Red," Red held out his hand.

"My name is Brock, and I'm the gym leader of this gym," He accepted Red's outstretched hand in a firm handshake.

Leaf looked at the two puzzled, wondering when they would have meet each other. Seeing the confused look on her face, Brock turned to her.

"And you seem to be doing fine now. I'm glad you made a good recovery," He smiled at her.

"Thanks, but how did you know?" She cocked her head to the side in puzzlement.

Brock chuckled, "I saw your friend here coming into town carrying you. You were out like a rock. He explained that you had been poisoned in the forest, so I helped carry you to the pokemon center. You recovered very quickly though."

Leaf nodded enthusiastically. She glanced at the arena behind him and back at him.

"Are you a rock type user?" Leaf guessed.

"Very good, are you planning on challenging me today?"

"Yeah, and I intend to win," She said very confidently.

"We'll see about that. I'm no push-over," He smiled at her.

Brock lead Leaf over to her area of the battle ground and took his own. Red walked over to the stands to cheer his friend on. Leaf sized up the arena around them, trying to think up a battle strategy. She realized in a second that all her pokemon had the type disadvantage against rock types. I can still win this. Type advantage isn't everything she assured herself.

"The rules are simple. We each can use two different pokemon and 2 substitutions are allowed. The first person to have both pokemon unable to battle loses. Clear?" Brock announced.

Leaf nodded in anticipation. Brock enlarged his first pokeball and threw it. It bounced off the ground and released what looked like a rock with two arms and a face. Leaf threw her own pokeball and Rattata appeared.

"Geodude!" It hollered it's name.

"You can have the first move," Brock said.

"Rattata, use tail whip!"

Rattata leaped forward and hit the geodude in the head with its tail. It didn't do any damage, but it lowered the rock pokemon's defense. Brock instructed for his pokemon to use rock polish. Leaf watched as his pokemon began to glow, but nothing happened. Rattata used a quick focus energy, and squared off against the rock type pokemon. Brock waited patiently for Leaf to make her next move, a smile on his face.

"Rattata, use tackle!" She called.

Her small rat pokemon ran forward and lunged at the rock pokemon. Geodude, with amazing speed, dodged the move and recoiled with a punch. Rattata flew backwards and hit one of the jutted rock. It shakily got to its paws, bruises covering its body. Leaf bit her lip, wondering if her pokemon could take much more.

"Quick attack!" She yelled.

Lets see him dodge that She thought smugly. Rattata slammed into Geodude, causing the pokemon to tumble backwards. While the rock pokemon was recovering, Leaf called for her pokemon to use bite. Rattata latched onto the geodude's arm with his teeth. The pokemon roared in pain and shook his arm widely, but Rattata held on.

"Rollout!" Brock said calmly.

His geodude rolled into a ball and rolled forward. Rattata, unable to hold on any longer, flew off its arm. Before he could jump away, the rock pokemon barreled into him. Rattata tumbled backwards, falling unconscious. Leaf returned her pokemon, worry seeping into her. She enlarged her next pokeball and threw it.

"Char! Charmander!" The fire lizard yelled.

Charmander squared off against the now motionless geodude. Charmander let out a spark of flames and narrowed his eyes.

"Rollout once more!"

Geodude curled into a ball and shot at Charmander. Charmander jumped out of the way and shot an ember at it. The flames seemed to do little to nothing to the spinning rock pokemon. It came back around, this time much faster. Charmander was only barely able to jump away.

"Charmander, jump on top of those rocks!" Leaf yelled.

Before Geodude could take another hit at him, Charmander climbed up one of the rocks jutting from the ground. He watched as geodude began to roll in a circle, gaining power and speed. Without warning, it slammed into the rock Charmander was standing on. The rock vibrated violently, Charmander teetering on top. Before it crashed to the ground, Charmander jumped to the next closest rock. Leaf knew if she didn't do something quick, the battle would be over.

"Charmander, use smokescreen at the base of the rock!" Leaf desperately called.

Charmander aimed at smokescreen at the base of the rocks, and coated the ground and air with a thick smoke. Charmander jumped off the rock and onto a different one to avoid the smoke clogging the air. There was a cry of surprise and a loud thump. The geodude began to violently cough as the smoke filled it's lungs.

"Use ember!"

Charmander shot a ember into the smoke at where he heard the pokemon hacking. The geodude cried out in pain and when the smoke cleared, lay unconscious. Brock returned his pokemon, and sent out his last pokemon. This pokemon was huge, standing at least 25 feet tall. Its body was made up of large boulders, that got smaller as it went down. It strongly resembled a snake, with no arms or legs. The pokemon let out a tremendous roar, that caused Charmander to take a tentative step backwards.

"Onix, use rock throw!"

Onix's tail wrapped around a large rock and hurled it at Charmander. Charmander jumped out of the way before the rock could crush him. He seemed to snap out of his trance and shot a series of embers at the giant rock snake. Onix roared as the embers seared his rock hard body, but appeared relatively unharmed. Brock smiled, confidence written all over her face.

"Fire types are weak against my rock types. Its going to take a lot more than a few embers to take down my onix," He called out across the room.

"Smokescreen!" Leaf yelled, trying her best to ignore him.

Charmander opened his mouth and send out of cloud of thick smoke. The onix began to cough loudly, as Charmander used his growl attack to lower its attack. The small lizard pokemon then ran at the massive rock pokemon with his claw raised. He began to repeatedly scratch Onix, at Leaf's command.

"Onix use harden!" Brock instructed.

Onix steeled his body and as Charmander's claws hit the now steely rock surface his cried out in pain. Charmander held his throbbing hand for a moment, before running away from the giant. The smoke had begun to clear, and Onix only looked pissed off.

"Tackle,"

Onix lurched forward and slammed into Charmander. Charmander went flew, a boulder breaking his fall. He slumped to the ground, breathing heavily as he pushed himself back up. Leaf looked from her exhausted pokemon to the battle ready onix. At her command, Charmander fired another ember. Onix took the attack and then hurled another rock at Charmander. He hit the floor as the rock sailed over his head and shattered against the boulder he had been leaning against moments ago.

"Rock tomb!" Brock called out.

Onix began to glow white and several large rocks formed around its head. With a roar, the rocks shot at Charmander. Alarmed, Charmander managed to the dodge the first rock, but it was unable to evade the second one. Charmander tumbled his small body rolling backwards, almost to Leaf's feet. Despite the enormous amount of damage it had just taken, the pokemon struggled to push itself to its feet. He stood unsteadily on his feet, his legs barely able to hold him up. Charmander's eyes suddenly widened, and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Charmander," Leaf murmured, scooping up her starter in her arms.

"You battled well, and your charmander is strong, but you will need to come up with a more solid strategy if you wish to defeat me," Brock advised her.

Leaf nodded numbly, her eyes staring intently at the small orange body in her arms. Red put a hand on her shoulder, and nodded at her. She bit her lip, holding back tears. She had been so confident coming in here, but now…

"Once your pokemon are rested, I would also like to challenge you," Red said.

"Very well, return around 5 and we will have our battle," Brock replied.

Red rested his hand on the upper part of Leaf's back, and lead her to the door. Usually, Leaf would have been ecstatic at Red's touch, but now all she could think of was the way her pokemon were completely destroyed in that battle. Red sensed her gloomy mood, and longed to comfort his friend, but he couldn't find the words. Leaf pulled her pokeball from her belt and returned her pokemon. The two walked back to the pokemon center in uneasy silence.

"Just train, you'll get it next time," Red assured her, but she stayed silent.

Once in the pokemon center, Leaf handed Nurse joy her pokemon and sat down in a plush chair to wait. Red walked over to her, but thought better of it and walked away. He stopped at the automatic door and turned back to her.

"Be at the gym at 5," And with that he walked out.

Leaf sat there, pondering her lose. Was it because of the type disadvantages, or because of her poor training? It was stupid to send Charmander in for a physical attack when rock pokemon were known to have strong defenses. She should have continued to use fire attacks until the pokemon was tired, or sustained a burn. Leaf leaned her forehead against her palms and cursed herself.

"Leaf Greene?" A voice called.

Leaf looked up and saw Nurse Joy standing behind the counter with a tray of pokeball. Leaf jumped up and grabbed her pokeballs from the tray. She quickly thanked her, and hurried out the doors. If she was going to rematch Brock, there was no way she was going to lose a second time. She was going to train, and she was going to win. Leaf finally arrived at her destination. A shiver ran down her spine as she gazed at the forest. The last time she went in there, she almost didn't make it out. But this was no time to be afraid, she was going to have to suck it up. This was the best place to train her pokemon, and they deserved nothing but the best.

She walked into the forest, her head held high. The sound of buzzing in the distance caused her heart to race, but she shoved down the fear and continued to walk. Once she reached a clearing she stopped and threw her three pokeballs. Charmander, Rattata and Weedle all looked at her curiously. Leaf took a deep breath and spoke to her pokemon.

"I want to apologize for not being the best trainer, and winning that battle. But I want to win the next one, and I need your help to win it. We were so close to winning I could taste it, and I intend on having it. I'm going to ask you to push yourselves, to become stronger. Are you with me?"

Her pokemon let out cries of approval, and they began their training. As Leaf had promised, the training was indeed hard and her pokemon proved that they wanted to win as much as she did. Caught up in the training, Leaf almost didn't notice the time until it was too late. She glanced down at watch, and the time read 4:50. She hurriedly returned her pokemon and began to jog out of the forest. Something yellow shoot through the bushes to her left, causing her to stop. She grabbed her pokeball, ready to fight. If it was a beedrill, she was taking it down. After nothing happened, Leaf turned and continued her run.

She got to the gym five minutes late. Her jog slowed to a walk as the huge doors got closer. Taking a deep breath, she opened them and saw Brock and Red facing each other. Standing on Red's side was his nidoran, while Brock had sent out geodude. Neither of them looked very beaten up, so Leaf hoped the battle had just started. She took her seat, and watched the battle unfold.

"Nidoran, use double-kick!" Red instructed.

The small purple pokemon charged forward and struck the geodude twice with his foot. The geodude cried in pain, but did not back down. With instruction from Brock, Geodude tackled Nidoran, pinning him on his back. Nidoran used his horn to shove Geodude off him, and jumped back to his feet. Geodude, regained it balance, but now it's face had a greenish tint to it. Red smiled.

"Nidoran, avoid Geodude. Let the poison finish it off," Red called.

Obeying his trainer, Nidoran jumped onto one of the rocks, and then began to hop across them until he was as far away from Geodude as possible. Brock gritted his teeth, knowing Geodude wouldn't be able to last very long out there. He raised his pokeball and returned Geodude. Then he sent out Onix. Like before, the giant snake loomed above his prey, his rock tail swishes back and forth. Nidoran looked up at the pokemon in surprise, but quickly covered that emotion with determination. Onix let out a horrible roar, and charged at Nidoran. Taken by surprise, Nidoran was sent flying into the wall.

The small purple pokemon slid down the wall, its body covered in newly forming bruises, and pushed itself to its feet. It eyed Onix, before charged at him. He hit him with a quick double-kick, and jumped away before Onix could retaliate.

"Leer!" Red yelled.

Nidoran narrowed his eyes, causing Onix's defense to lower. Instead of attack back though, Onix stood in place.

"Bide," Brock instructed.

Onix held completely still, his body beginning to glow with a light red aura. Nidoran watched for a moment, expecting an attack to come, but nothing did.

"Focus energy, than poison sting!"

Nidoran was briefly surrounded by a light white energy, before he charged forward and struck Onix with his horn. Quick as a flash, Onix's energy began to glow brighter and he whipped Nidoran away with his tail. Nidoran sailed through the air and struck a rock. He fell to the ground unconscious. Red returned his pokemon, and pondered for a moment. As much as he wanted to use his newly evolved pokemon, he knew it wouldn't be a wise choice. So he released the only other pokemon he had.

"Bulba! Bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur cried, his body tensed.

"Kick it off with a razor leaf,"

Leaves shoot out of Bulbasaur's back, striking Onix. The pokemon cried out in pain as the super effective move struck him. The rock pokemon struggled to stay upright, but in the end it stood tall. It began to glow white, and large stones formed around its head. With a flash of his eyes, the stones were hurled at Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur's vine shot out and deflected each of the boulders. They then lashed out at Onix, whipping him until the giant fell. Brock returned his pokemon, and sent out geodude.

"Stay strong Geodude! Use rollout," Brock commanded.

The geodude curled into a ball and slammed into Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur took a step backwards, but regained his next time Geodude came around, Bulbasaur tried to stop it with his vines. Geodude simply maneuvered out of the way and struck bulbasaur once more. Bulbasaur was panting heavily, but he was far from done.

"Bulbasaur, just keep away from it. The poison will wear it down," Red called out.

Bulbasaur nimbly dodged the next attack, and barely got away from the one after that. Remembering Leaf's battle from earlier, he pulled himself up on one of the boulders. Geodude rammed into the boulder, making it teeter unsteadily. Bulbasaur rocked back and forth on it, barely jumping to an neighboring boulder before his came crashing down. Bulbasaur picked up with shards of rock with his vines, and began to hurl them at Geodude. Most of them simply bounced off the rolling rock, or shattered into pieces, but one tripped up Geodude. Before Geodude could recover from its fall, it was overcome with Bulbasaur's razor leaf attack. It lay on the ground unconscious. Brock returned his pokemon and smiled at Red. Warmth filled Red as he accepted his very first badge from Brock. Leaf clapped loudly for her friend, part of her overjoyed by his victory, and part of her bitter by her own loss.

"Great battle Red!" She high-fived him.

He thanked her with a smile. She then turned her attention to Brock.

"Can I rematch you tomorrow?" She asked.

Brock looked surprised, "You're already ready?"

She nodded, a smile curling the edges of her lips.

"I'll see you here at 9:00 sharp then,"

Red and Leaf walked out of the gym, the two of them talking about the battle. Leaf did most of the talking, while Red accepted her compliments. Watching Red had given her an idea though, and she planned to use it to win. Despite acting so cheery, Red could see through Leaf's wall of emotions.

"Hey, cheer up. You'll get it tomorrow," He told her.

Leaf nodded in agreement, knowing that she would indeed win.

**I know, not the best ending, but oh well. Thanks to everyone that reviews, favorites, or follows my story, I really appreciate it. I hope the battle scenes turned out pretty well, I tried to be realistic about it. Next chapter we are obviously going to get some even more action from Leaf so stay tuned! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"You ready?" Brock asked, his face shining with excitement.

Leaf nodded, her body tensing up. The referee was reciting words, but Leaf hardly heard them over the adrenaline pumping in her ears. Red watched her silently from the stands, wondering what kind of battle plan she had this time. Leaf's grip tightened on her pokeball as Brock sent out his first Pokémon. Geodude cried its name, and looked at her with unwavering confidence. Even though the Pokémon had caused Leaf a lot of trouble her last match, she was going to make sure it didn't this time.

"Let's go Weedle!"

The small bug pokemon emerged, looking dwarfed next to the opposing Pokémon. Red was shocked. Didn't Leaf know the disadvantage a bug type would have against a rock type? He prayed she had some sort of strategy up her sleeve.

"You can have the first move," Brock nodded at her.

Without wasting a second, Leaf commanded, "Start us off strong with a string shot!"

Obeying his trainer, Weedle shot of a series of sticky strings at geodude. The rocks Pokémon struggled to free itself from their web as Weedle charged forward, its stinger poised.

"Poison sting!" Leaf yelled.

Weedle stabbed its stinger into geodude, causing it to yelp in pain. Because it was a rock type, the poison type move did little to hurt it, but that wasn't what Leaf was aiming for. Suddenly, geodude tensed up and pulsed purple for a moment. Weedle retreated as the geodude broke through the remaining strings, looking very unhappy. Leaf had just what she wanted now. Even though geodude had the type advantage, the poison would hopefully wear out geodude enough for weedle to finish it off.

"Use rock polish, then rock throw!" Brock called.

Geodude did as instructed, glowing white for a moment, and then hurling a rock at weedle. Unable to dodge in time, Weedle was thrown backwards by the rock. Wounded, weedle got back up. It let out a battle cry and shot another string shot at geodude. Geodude dodged the attack, and then at brocks command, curled into a ball.

"String shot the ground around it, and climb up a rock!" Leaf instructed.

Weedle did as told, slowly retreating as it short web after web at the rolling Pokémon. It did seem to slow it up, but it was far from stopping. Weedle was up the protruding rocks just before geodude smashed into to it. It shook the whole rock, but the rock held. Leaf smiled, because she knew while the geodude grew weaker, her Pokémon could camp out from the boulder and shoot string shots at it. Brock must have figured that out too, because he called for his Pokémon to stop using rollout. Geodude uncurled itself, looking considerably more tired and weaker.

"Rock polish, and tackle!" Brock said.

Geodude slammed into Weedle so fast that Weedle didn't even have time to react. He pushed himself up, this time using a lot more effort. At Leaf's word, he fired another set of string shots at Geodude. Geodude was about to dodged when it once again pulsed purple. The strings covered it, while it struggled against it.

"Finish it off with a tackle!"

Weedle tackled Geodude. This time the boulder Pokémon did not get up. Brock scowled as he returned his first Pokémon, but Leaf knew this battle was far from over. In a flash of red light, the giant snake Pokémon appeared. Weedle craned his neck to get a good look at the onix, its face paling as it realized just how big this pokemon was.

"Weedle, string shot!" Leaf called out.

Weedle used string shot, but it looked as though the attack did little to slow the giant up. Without waiting for instructions, Weedle charged forward and struck Onix with its stinger. Onix let out a grunt, but it did not pulse purple like geodude. Realizing this, Weedle was about to strike it with another poison sting when Onix slammed its tail into him. Weedle flew backwards and smacked into a rock. It slid off the rock, and lay unconscious on the floor. Leaf returned her Pokémon, and grabbed her next.

"Show them what you got Charmander!" Leaf shouted, throwing her pokeball.

Charmander appeared, proclaiming his name loudly. He looked up at the onix, and growled. Brock smiled, admiring the small Pokémon's confidence.

"Onix start us off strong with a tackle!" Brock called out.

The Pokémon charged toward Charmander, but Charmander simply jumped to the side and sent a fiery storm of embers at the giant snake Pokémon. Onix cried out in pain and lashed out at Charmander with its tail. Charmander jumped backwards just before the tail could made contact with him.

"Leer and then use a quick scratch," Leaf commanded.

Charmander shot Onix a glare, and while it was distracted and its defense down, he slashed his claws against the onix's rock hard body. Before it could retaliate, Charmander jumped back to safety, his blue eyes narrowed in concentration. Brock called out a command and Onix hurled a rock at Charmander. Charmander tried to avoid it, but the rock chipped his shoulder. Charmander cried out in surprise and pain while he clutched his injured shoulder. Worry crossed Leaf's face.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Charmander nodded briskly, and pulled his paw away from it. The flames on his tail began to burn even brighter and Charmander tensed up.

"Rage!" Brock instructed.

"Dodge it and counter with another ember!" Leaf countered.

Charmander rolled out of the way of the charging rock Pokémon and bombarded it with a series of embers. Onix cried out in pain as it retreated, its breath rugged and uneven as it glowered down at Charmander. At its trainer's command, it hurled a boulder at Charmander. Charmander jumped out of the way and used ember in return, though Onix managed to dodge the attack.

"Tackle,"

Onix, once more charged towards Charmander. Charmander smirked, thinking the trainer would have learned. He jumped off the to side, but was meet with Onix's tail. It slammed him into a boulder with a loud crash. Leaf cringed, praying her Pokémon was okay. Charmander shook the dust from his face and pushed himself up.

"Scratch one more time!" Leaf called out.

Charmander charged forward, all fear erased. His claw began to glow white, and then it took on a metallic glow. He slashed at onix with tremendous force, and to Leaf's surprise, the giant snake pokemon fell. When the dust cleared, Charmander stood looking down at Onix. Leaf let out a squeal of delight and ran out onto the battlefield. The referee's announcements were background noise as she embraced her small fire Pokémon. She couldn't help but giggle as giddiness filled her. She glanced up at Brock, her cheeks flushing red when she realized just how ridiculous she must look.

"That was a very powerful metal claw your charmander used," Brock praised her.

So that's what had happened to Charmander's scratch. She smiled with pride at her starter Pokémon.

"Thank you, I really learned a lot from these battles," Leaf responded.

"Here, you earned this," He said handing her her very first badge.

Leaf took it tenderly, and examined it with great care. It was in the shape of a rock and it gleamed with a shine. Leaf pulled out her empty badge case and put the badge inside smiling.

"Good luck to you and Red on the rest of your journey," Brock nodded towards Red and smiled at Leaf.

"Thank you," She returned the smile and meet Red at the door.

He watched her, the faintest hint of a smirk on his lips. He held the door open for her, sighing as she rushed forward and skipped down the steps. The sun peeked out from behind the white clouds lazily drifting by in the sky. The pidgey's were chirping happily from rooftops and the city was alive. Leaf did a little twirl at the bottom of the steps, but she stumbled. Luckily, she caught herself before she actually fell, but a blush crept into her cheeks. Leaf smiled sheepishly up at Red as he met her at the bottom of the steps.

"To Mt. Moon now?" She asked.

Red nodded, slightly impressed Leaf had time to look at the path he had marked out for them to take.

"Good. Did you know clefairy live there? I have been wanting to catch a clefairy since I first saw one of TV. They are so cute!" Leaf declared.

Red listened to her ramble about the Pokémon while they walked to the pokemon center. Leaf handed her Pokémon over to nurse joy and waited patiently for them to be returned. Once her pokeballs were securely attached to her belt, they left the center. As they left town, Red glanced uneasily at the Pewter City Museum. Without thinking, he lifted his hand up and touched the still tender split in his lip.

"Is that where you got it?" Leaf asked, indicating to his the stone colored building he was staring at.

"Uh… yeah," He nodded, pulling his finger away and putting his head down.

Leaf got the message that he didn't want to talk and didn't question him further. They walked in silence, the only noise being the ground shifting beneath their feet. Leaf spotted the sign indicating that they had left town and nodded at it. Red's eyes found the sign, but he said nothing. Leaf sighed as he remained silent. He never talked.

As they walked, Leaf noticed the grass began to grow thinner, and the trees became less common. Large rocks dotted the terrain, though Leaf wasn't sure if they were really rocks, or geodudes curled into balls. Mt. Moon loomed ahead of them, its peak covered by the clouds above. Leaf was marveling up at the view when Red jabbed his in the side with his elbow. She rubbed her side unhappily and turned to Red, who nodded in front of them.

Close to the base of the mountain was a makeshift stand. Leaf could barely make out the outline of two men sitting behind the smalls stand. Leaf shrugged at Red, oblivious to his suspicion about the place.

There were two men at the stand, and they looked polar opposite of each other. The man to the left was tall and built. He had buzz cut with brown hair and a scowl on his lips. A nasty looking scar ran down from his eyebrow to his jaw. His dark eyes were narrowed at them. He wore a tank top, showing off his incredibly large and bulging muscles. The man standing next to him wore big glasses that reflected the sun, making it impossible to see his eyes. His hair was a mess of blue and his mouth was curved into a sly smile. He clutched a clipboard and he wore a large white lab coat.

"Hello there travelers! I'm here from the official Pokémon league conducting a census. We will need to know where you are from, how old you are, names, and all that good stuff. You can go first," The man in the lab coat said nodding at the Leaf.

Before he could talk again, Red interrupted him, "Why are you conducting a census in front of Mt. Moon?"

"Because with a tight budget, we are debating on whether or not we have enough money to continue to run the Pokémon center, or if we need to shut it down," He explained with a smile.

Something was off about this, Red could sense it, but he just couldn't put his finger on what it was. The man with the buzzcut met Red's eyes when he turned to look at him. A chill traveled down Red's spine, but he pretended as though nothing was wrong. He returned his attention to Leaf, who was answering questions Lab Coat asked.

"Where are you from dear?" He asked.

Leaf prickled at the term of endearment, "Uh, Pallet Town."

Suddenly Buzzcut was very interested. Red glanced at him, fear prickling inside his gut. If Leaf noticed the shift in mood, she didn't show it.

"Pallet Town? You two are the first travelers we've seen from there. Are there any other trainers coming from around that area?" Labcoat asked

"We only know of one more boy who is our age," Leaf replied.

"And what would your age be?"

"13, almost 14," Leaf answered uneasily.

Buzzcut stepped forward and propped his elbows on the stand, his face inches away from Red's. Red stepped back as Buzzcut examined him. Buzzcut's eyes spotted his tennis shoes and a look of excitement came over him. Without warning, his fist shoot out and slammed into Red's cheek. There was a crack and Red was laying on the ground, his head swimming.

"What the hell!" Leaf screamed.

Red expected her to rush to his aid, but to his surprise she sent out her rattata. The small purple rodent bared it's over grown teeth at the two men. They smirked and stepped out from behind their stand. Buzzcut looked even more massive than before, but that it didn't intimidate Leaf in the least.

"It's him. Soon we'll be swimming in money," Buzzcut growled.

Fear paralyzed Red where he lay. They had found him. Team Rocket had really been searching for him! Leaf's shouts shook him from his thoughts. Labcoat had sent out an oddish and Buzzcut had sent out an elekid. Leaf reached for a second pokeball, but Red beat her to it.

"Nidoran!" The small purple Pokémon declared.

Leaf glanced back in surprise at Red, thinking he had been knocked out. He smiled back at her, propping himself up on his elbows as he slowly began to push himself up. His head hurt like hell, but the adrenaline coursing through his veins seemed to take away some of the pain. Trying to forget about his bruised and broken face, Red turned his attention back to the thugs.

"Nidoran, peck on Oddish," Red yelled.

"Rattata use tackle!' Leaf called a moment later.

Both Pokémon surged forward and caught their foe by surprise. Elekid seemed to take Rattata's attack much better than Oddish did though. Oddish tumbled backwards into the stand and struggled to get back up. Labcoat scolded his Pokémon, and then commanded it to use acid. The oddish opened its mouth a shot a blast of violet at Nidoran, but the attack did little damage. Meanwhile, Elekid was sending a series of punches at Rattata, which Rattata gracefully dodged. It was easily to tell that Buzzcut was starting to get frustrated about being bested in battle by a 13 year old.

"Elekid, fire up a thundershock," He growled.

Elekid sent a strong blast of electricity at Rattata, this time hitting its mark. Rattata howled in pain, but quickly retaliated with a quick attack. Elekid was beginning to lose its patience, and sent out another blast of electricity. This time Rattata dodged it with ease. Nearby, Oddish was attempting to bring Nidoran down with an absorb attack, but Nidoran attacked with swift set of fury attacks. Oddish wasn't looking very good, it was pushing itself back up when Nidoran stuck it with another peck attack. The little grass pokemon couldn't take the attack and passed out. Labcoat cursed under his breath, his cocky grin replaced by a scowl as he sent out his next pokemon.

"Let's go Paras!" He tossed his pokeball out.

An orange bug Pokémon emerged with two mushrooms growing from its back. It clicked its small white pincers. A burst of electricity caught Red's attention, and he saw Elekid chasing Rattata around, its arm bursting with electricity. Rattata seemed unharmed, but Elekid was growing more tired with every moment.

"Cut," Labcoat growled.

Paras slashed its claws against Nidoran, causing him to cry out in pain. While the bug Pokémon was so close, Red took advantage of it by commanding Nidoran to use peck. The attack hit, sending Paras sprawling. Red was about to command another attack when a flash of electricity struck Nidoran. He yelped and staggered, before collapsing to the ground. Red returned his Pokémon silently and enlarged his next.

"Let's go Pidgeotto!" Red cried.

"Pidgeotto!" It cried in response.

Red glanced over at Leaf, who was watching her Pokémon continue to evade Elekid. They both knew this charade could not go on forever though, and the loser of the battle could have dire consequences.

"Leaf, if we want to win, we have to work as a team," Red said.

Leaf glanced over at him and nodded. She then returned her attention to Rattata and Elekid

"Pidgeotto, use sand-attack,"

Pidgeotto dove down and kicked up a large cloud of sand, right into the opposing pokemon's faces. They coughed and stumbled in the cloud, but Rattata and Pidgeotto remained unaffected. Rattata charged in towards the sound of Elekid with a tackle, while Pidgeotto dove towards Paras. Each Pokémon collided with the opposing one and sent them tumbling back to their trainer unconscious. Buzzcut looked down at his fainted Elekid incredulously, while Labcoat began to nervously shake, though Red did not know why. They both returned their Pokémon before taking a nervous step back. Even Buzzcut had lost his tough guy demeanor and looked a bit afraid.

"You'll pay for this kid. Mark my word!" And with that, they were gone.

Leaf and Red watched them go in silence, their heavy breathing the only sound to break it. Leaf glanced over at Red, and she burst out laughing. He didn't know why, but he started joining her. Leaf doubled over, and was soon laughing so hard tears fell from her eyes. Her soft brown eyes met Red's dark brown ones.

"We could have been kidnapped," She laughed softly, the funniness seeming to wear off the situation.

"Yeah," He chuckled in agreement, figuring the laughter was from a build up of nervous energy.

"Are you okay?" There was no amusement in her voice anymore, just plain concern.

She gently reached up and touched his bruised cheek, causing him to wince in pain. Leaf pulled her hand away at once, muttering her apologizes.

"No, my face kills. Why does everybody keep punching me?" He moaned.

Leaf chuckled, "They must be jealous of it."

He gave her a side-ways smirk, "That's probably it."

"There's a Pokémon center up ahead that you can be treated at," She said.

Red nodded and they began to walk towards the direction of the Pokémon center. He figured it was quicker to go to the one Leaf had spoken of then to turn back around and go back to Pewter City. Soon the long walk began to become numbing. The terrain was dirt dry and the sun was beating on them from above. Along with the constant throb of pain in his face, Red had to add thirst to his problems.

Leaf stopped a moment to rummage through her bag. She pulled out two cool, beautiful water bottles, their seals unbroken. She tossed one to Red, who greedily began to gulp down the water. He saved about half of it though, knowing he would want it for later. Leaf rested on a flat rock trying to catch her breathe. She glanced up at Red, who now held the water bottle up against his face.

"Ya know, they seemed like they knew you," Leaf huffed.

Red prickled and looked over at her.

"I mean, they just got really excited about you, like they were looking for you. Do you know who they were?" Leaf questioned.

Red fumbled for words as he struggled to keep his cool demeanor, "I've never seen them before. They must have been looking for somebody else that looked like me."

He ended his explanation with a shrug, which seemed to convince Leaf. He sighed in relief while she wasn't looking and took another swig of water. Red returned to his feet and continued walking, Leaf following in silence.

"Oh my! Let me get you something right away!" Nurse Joy scurried off from behind her desk.

She returned a moment later with an ice pack and a couple of pills. He downed the pills and pressed the cool pack up against his face. Nurse Joy talked to him about how he should treat his bruise, but he wasn't really listening. He had something else on his mind. Leaf talked to Nurse Joy about a room, and soon enough she had a key jangling in her hand. Red followed her to their room in silence.

After 30 minutes, they were finally ready to go to sleep. Leaf's hair was wet from the shower she had insisted on taking. Dark circles had appeared under her heavy eyes. She yawned, stretching her arms, and crawled under the covers. Red took the bed underneath her, and waited. He waited until he could hear her soft snores, and then he waited a little more. Every muscle in his body protested it, but Red climbed out of bed.

Grabbing his pokeball belt, he fasted it to his waist. He didn't want to do this by any means, but he knew he had to. Snatching his hat off the desk, Red got one last look at Leaf. Her mouth was slightly opened and her face no longer so tired. She looked so peaceful sleeping compared to the adventurous person she was while she was awake. Red turned and opened the window, letting the cool breeze blew against him. With a deep breathe, he climbed out the window and into the darkness.

**Where is Red off to? Any guesses? Wow, there was a lot of battling in that chapter, but I hope it kept it pretty interesting. So I made a minor change back in the other chapters with their age. I just felt that 10 was a little too young to be out exploring the world, even though that is how old the characters in the games are. I have an important question, and so please leave me a response. Do you think Red and Leaf should catch Pokémon from the other regions? I've been debating this a lot, especially since it is hard to have Red, Leaf, and Blue all catching different Pokémon, but all having a variety of Pokémon and a well balanced team. So please leave your opinion in a review!**


End file.
